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| Woodpigeons, The Ridge, 30/11/2018. |
I wanted to see if the winter finch and bunting flock had improved at all (it hadn’t), but was interrupted by a pretty unexpected movement of Woodpigeons. I suppose the gentle westerly and clear sky could have foretold this but it was the last day of November after all, and vis-mig wasn’t on my radar. Anyway, in an hour from 07:30 I enjoyed 2,020 birds thundering east, including several flocks of 100+ birds. A nice surprise, as though autumn, having gone out a while ago, had to pop back quickly because it had forgotten its wallet … a Brambling, two typically entertaining Ravens and a healthy number of winter thrushes made for a short and sweet session.
A message from Steve – finder of the Stoke Lake Shag – came just in time to make the excursion to Guildford and back before work beckoned. Abel and I made good time and it didn’t take long to find the juvenile bird on the west side of the lake, rather aimlessly swimming around. It showed nicely in the morning sun, before moving over to the reed-fringed east side to feed. We also logged a Kingfisher and a vocal Chiffchaff on what was my first visit to the site in over four years.
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| Shag, Stoke Lake, 30/11/2018. |
The bird was a Surrey first for me, and it seems to be one of those winter species that is far rarer these days. Indeed, in Wheatley’s 2007 Birds of Surrey tome he considers Shag: “far less common that Cormorant, though a few are seen in most years”. This isn’t the case now – the last Surrey record was at Longside Lake, near Thorpe, from 4-9 January 2014, found by Kevin D. Indeed, in this part of the county they are almost a bit mega: Stoke boasts four previous records (three from its 1990s glory years), but in Waverley there have been as few as seven birds, the most recent of which was at Unstead Sewage Farm in October 1996.
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| Shag, Stoke Lake, 30/11/2018. |
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| Shag, Stoke Lake, 30/11/2018. |
As it happened, the Shag was my 200th bird in Surrey. This is a satisfying haul, particularly as I only casually county list. The notion of Surrey listing really appeals, however, but sadly it seems I'm a generation or two late for being part of any serious county competition. Unfortunately, there are only remnants of what was – at least seemingly – a thriving and competitive Surrey scene that continued until perhaps a decade or so ago.
I guess the reasons for this are multiple, and probably merit a blog post in themselves. In short, the departure of a key Surrey listing figure, no access to key sites (Walton and Beddington) and the devaluation of county context (perhaps triggered by the excitement of birding further afield that social media/instant news constantly refreshes) are probably key, along with debated Surrey boundaries and a stark lack of young birders in the county (as far as I can tell less than five under the age of 30). Perhaps I’m overthinking it though.
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| Great Northern Diver, Frensham Great Pond, 1/12/2018. |
Saturday’s forecast looked rancid, so I planned to quickly check the patch water bodies for my own blown-inland-seabird, then head to Sussex for some gulling. As it happened, news broke late afternoon on Friday of a probable Black-throated Diver at Frensham Great Pond. Another rare opportunity to add to my Surrey list without going far, so after a whizz through Thorncombe Street it was off to the southwest of the county.
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| Great Northern Diver, Frensham Great Pond, 1/12/2018. |
Parking at the hotel I spotted a birder with his scope locked onto something. It turned out this was Kevin D – aforementioned Longside Lake Shag finder – and he had the distant diver in his scope. I got onto the bird and we both swiftly agreed it looked like a Great Northern Diver. I headed to the main car park for better views, and indeed a bumpy forehead, heavy bill and well-marked scaling on the upperparts confirmed it was a juvenile of this species.
In pretty grim weather the bird floated close to the beach, allowing really fantastic views and photograph opportunities. It was happily feeding on crustaceans of some sort, oblivious to us on the shore. Eventually it drifted back out to the middle of the lake, where I understand it has spent most of its time since. It was still there today …
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| Great Northern Diver, Frensham Great Pond, 1/12/2018. |
The last Great Northern Diver at Frensham was as long ago as 1964 and, incredibly, that was the only Waverley record since 1900, until this weekend. In outer Surrey they’re seriously rare – there was a popular bird at Papercourt in 2013 and one at Stoke Lake in the early 1990s (that place was on fire then!) – but that’s it. I’d have preferred Black-throated, but it was still a nice encounter, and only my second in Surrey.
I knew the strong southerly winds and generally unpleasant weather would push gulls onto the south coast, so I checked out my usual spots from Emsworth in the west to Rustington in the east. At Selsey a big flock of large gulls was feeding in the surf, 200 at least, but there was nothing too unusual about. That said, a particularly eye-catching 3rd-winter bird had me scratching my head for a while.
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| Possible Caspian x Herring Gull, Selsey, 1/12/2018. |
My own conclusion, which was seconded by a couple of others, is that it was a Herring Gull with some amount of Cachinnans in its genes. It’s expression certainly recalled Caspian, but a big, Herring-like eye and fairly stubby bill felt weird, even though the tone was OK for Casp, as was the neck streaking. However, the wing pattern was all wrong, with no deep tongues or any mirrors on P9 or 10. I suppose there’s a chance it was just an odd Herring, but I certainly feel there was some Caspian in there. Perhaps it was from a German mixed colony.
Sunday allowed for just a brief patch visit in the morning. Not much stood out for most of the session, bar the female Red-crested Pochard, until I was treated to by far my best patch views of Water Rail. It seems this species is having a really good winter in Phillimore, with as many as five birds present. One individual fed out in the open in a small pool in the southern section, right by the footpath, giving magnificent views.
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| Water Rail, Winkworth Arboretum, 2/12/2018. |
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| Water Rail, Winkworth Arboretum, 2/12/2018. |
