Happy New Year!
I managed to add one last species to my 2021 list this week
in the form of a cracking drake Goldeneye on the Swale…
When I have had them on the river in the past it has always been associated with very cold weather but that was hardly the case this week! In all the years I have been birdwatching I have never consciously heard the superb sound of its wings in flight (which give it the old Norfolk name of Rattlewing and the nickname The Whistler in America) but this one performed brilliantly as it flew up and down the river.
So I ended up with a distinctly feeble 99 species in 2021. The total
for the village including species seen by other people was a rather more
respectable 113 species. I missed quite a lot! What it lacked in quantity it
made up for in quality with three new species for the parish; Avocet, Pied
Flycatcher and my working-from-home bonus - Dusky Warbler!
Other species seen this week included a movement of
Pinkfooted Geese with 75 north over Morton yesterday (a nice early addition to
the 2022 list) and on Saturday a small skein of 11 birds south along the Swale
with another 20 dropping in to a field on the far side of the river...
Flyover pinks are now an annual occurrence but grounded birds are much rarer and I believe this is the largest flock I have seen in the parish.
Talking of geese, up to 250 Greylags have been feeding regularly
in the fields around Myer’s Lane and included this hybrid - presumably between
Greylag and Canada Goose…
Other sightings of note included 95 Linnet in a field on Potter Lane, a covey of six Grey Partridge on Langlands and a Great Black-backed Gull over, two Shelduck and 11 Cormorant over Morton Bridge, nine Grey Heron in an arable field by the Swale and a Wigeon in with the Mallards on the river.
