Beddington Farmlands, Not Twite! 26th November 2017

When I learnt of the Twite seen in Beddington Farmlands on Wednesday, I had been itching to try and see it. Although the chances of getting in was low with few birders around, Peter Alfrey made it happen, and Steve Wolfenden met me at the gate around lunchtime for a couple of hours' walk. 

With no news of the Twite so far in the day, I was expecting another mission fail. So we headed up to the tips, with about 10 Snipe flying out of the grass onto the main lakes. We reached a few haystacks, where the Twite had hung around for the last 4 days. Reed Buntings were flying out of the thick grass, with around 10 counted by the end of the day. We walked around a bit, with a fair amount of gulls and jackdaws keeping us company, and a couple of Skylark flying around. We started to go towards the South-East side, following a group of Linnet. 

We spent about an hour and a bit watching them, following them around for a bit, trying to pick as many up as possible. We found 2 groups of 30-40 birds strong, and then another 2 groups of 20 or so as well towards the end.

I also had a moment of excitement when two sparrows were seen feeding on the perimeter of a fenceline on a muddy road - but they weren't the Tree Sparrows I initially hoped they were.

So of the 100-150 Linnet seen in the week, we saw about 60-80 of them. This meant there was a good chance that we might have seen the Twite at some point, but didn't pick it up...

Nonetheless, the mini-murmurations of Starlings entertained throughout, as did the thousands of Jackdaws. 

An active Kestrel towards the end was also nice as we headed back through the absolute freezing cold.

So for now the Twite partially evaded me, with a probable/possible sighting, and if it hangs around, I might get another chance to try and get a good view of it!

Nonetheless, it was a nice trip, and thanks to Steve for letting me in.

f Reed Bunting

(a few) Linnet

Kes

Jackdaw

Linnet

Over the week, at Wilson's on Tuesday there were up to 1100 gulls on the playground, ranging from hulking GBB and tiny BH gulls. The majority were Herring and LBBs, but there have been a few more Common Gulls as well.

Other than the Twite, a Shorelark at Stained Reservoirs has started to headline, with speculation arising over whether it's an American Horned Lark rather than a Shorelark.

I haven't seen either, so if it hangs around a bit I may find myself pushing for a visit to Stained soon!