A Wander on the Wildside: Summary of November

As I'm now in the school year for GCSEs I had mock exams in the week of the 11th November, but I still found a bit of time to go birding locally.

4th November - Peter Alfrey managed to find a Richard's Pipit on the mound a few days prior to the 4th, and although I missed any early twitches due to Oare Marshes and Viridor, I joined Derek Coleman's public walk on the 4th November. As expected there was no sign of the pipit nor much else, though there were plenty of Snipe being flushed from the grass as we walked through the mud to the lagoons. Despite numerous Meadow Pipit and Stonechat, there was only 1 certain Water Pipit seen. This was a distant view and then a bird flying, but it was nice to meet Roger B (Twitter 'Dodgy birds') and others there. Some other birds seen were 5 Green Sandpipers, 3-4 Tree Sparrow (sadly,) Water Rail, Stonechat, a scattering of gulls and wildfowl.
10th November - My only revision break that weekend was a quick vizmig. The highlights were several Redwing, a Song Thrush (nearly taken by one of 2 Sparrowhawk,) 2 Siskin, 2 Coal Tit and a Skylark (2nd garden record) W. The main bird movement were the gulls, and for the hour or so outside well over a thousand birds moved past. Most birds were Herring, with a few black-headed, LBBG and finally the bird pictures below. When I picked it up it seemed all white and slightly bigger though not significantly, with pale wingtips etc. However, it was distant by the time I got any picture and after consulting with experts the consensus was a 2nd-winter Herring.
LWC Barnes - see blog post here
18th November - With Autumn rarities really hitting coastlines (Pallid Swift influx, Little Swift in Hartlepool, Rustic Bunting in London and of course the Grey Catbird a month or so prior) I was a bit jealous. Nonetheless I had an Urban Rangers session on the 18th, and a fruitless vismig after a session clearing trees in the woodland produced a single Little Egret high SW. The first of the winter at Morden for me was later snoozing on the river. The best thing though was the development of the marshland that the rangers created in September, which looked great for waders and the like. It was great that Snipe had been seen there that week of the 18th, though I failed in finding any myself.
24th November - By the 24th I'd reached a stage of burnout and was shattered, and although I joined Steve Chastell's Surrey Bird Club at Papercourt Water Meadows I didn't really feel like being there. It was nice to meet up with Calum and Kabir there though, but the weather was pretty awful. The Short-eared Owl was a no show, but 2 Barn Owl, a few Kestrel, 2 Snipe, 4 Stonechat and plenty of thrushes were seen.