Wash out

October has fizzled out, with continuing wet southerlies doing little to shake up the migration pack. It's been an odd month – the middle period was stuffed full of liveliness and good birds – but it's been bookended by tepidness. Still, things seem more promising than this time last autumn, with birds clearly in the country in better numbers, so hopefully a fun winter awaits at least.

Lesser Redpoll.

Wednesday 25th

A wet, gloomy and dreary morning, but with a north-easterly wind that offered some promise. I headed to Frensham Great Pond first where nothing untoward was doing – a count of 10 Pochard was made off the hotel, while four Shoveler skulked along the eastern reedbed.

I then checked Tuesley before work beckoned. It seemed quiet, aside the continuing good numbers of Coot (50) and Tufted Duck (33), but as I was about to leave a bird drifting in from the north caught my eye: a fine adult Little Gull. The bird lingered for little more than a minute, before disappearing off east.

Little Bunting.

Only the second for Tuesley (the first of which only came in March), it caps off a remarkably good year for this species in south-west Surrey, where it is barely annual. To put this into context, I had one record in 2020, none in 2021 and one in 2022 ... but today's individual is my fourth of 2023 (and one of five records in total). 

Thursday 26th

After work at the end of a largely bright autumn day, I went for a walk along the river. Things were generally very quiet by the time I got to the Lammas Lands, where I'd planned for an optimistic owl stakeout given the bumper numbers of Short-eared Owls in the country at present.

There was little doing, save a few Snipe flushed by a Buzzard on Catteshall Meadow, and rain began to lightly fall, so I sacked off my wishful Asio vigil and continued on to Unstead SF. There, a Dunlin had been found earlier in the day – and it was still present when I arrived as sunset approached, showing well in front of the South Meadow viewing screen. 

Dunlin.

Janet, who I met on site, was delighted with this patch tick – Dunlin is a top bird locally away from Tuesley. Also, like Little Gull, it's had a truly bumper year in south-west Surrey, with this my eighth record across seven different months. It had a seriously long bill – presumably an alpina individual, which would also help explain the late date for a local bird (and that the finders' had identified it initially as a Curlew Sandpiper!).

Other bits of note in the failing light included two squealing Water Rails, a lively Kingfisher, some 500 chattering Jackdaws into their North Meadow roost and a single Chiffchaff.

Jackdaws.

Friday 27th

At the end of a week of little morning birding I'd hoped for OK conditions today, but awoke to fog. It soon cleared, though, so I headed to Shackleford. Unfortunately I only managed to cover about half of the site before rain moved in from the south, leaving me on an unsatisfactory 36 species and craving more light in the mornings …

Despite this, I did manage a female Yellowhammer, which flew over the northern fields calling. After a small group encouragingly wintered here last year, hopefully this is a sign of their return. More on Yellowhammer in south-west Surrey here. Other bits included as many as 60 Skylarks and a covey of seven Red-legged Partridges.

Shackleford.

It had brightened up by late morning, when I caught a glimpse of a Firecrest in a mixed flock working through our garden. A nice kitchen window tick!

Firecrest.

Saturday 28th

A rare clear weekend and uninspiring weather for local birding encouraged me on another Cornish road trip, this time to Sennen, near Land's End, where one of my most-wanted world birds had been present for a few days: Upland Sandpiper. 

Upon arrival at Mayon Farm, it didn't take long to locate the bird in its favoured grassy field. Views in the 'scope were fairly distant and at times obscured, but were significantly better than my crap record shots suggest! What a cracking bird – though I hope to see one a bit closer on a Canadian prairie one day!

Upland Sandpiper.

Most attention during the hour-long stakeout was on the sandpiper, though a Lapland Bunting that I heard long before seeing as it flew over was a welcome bonus. Nice – though it would have been more preferable on one of my south-west Surrey patches!

Lapland Bunting.

With heavy rain forecast from mid-morning, there wasn't loads of time to do much more birding ahead of grabbing a pasty and coffee and going home. However, I was able to check out Trevear Farm – just down the road from the Upland Sandpiper – where a third-winter Azores Gull was my first experience with this striking form. This bird has been in the wider Land's End area for a little while, but unfortunately it was asleep for most of the time.

Azores Gull.

Other bits before the return journey included a flock of 30 Cattle Egrets at Drift Reservoir (amazing scenes here the following day!), a Peregrine over Penzance and a quick dip of the lingering Purple Heron at Marazion Marsh.

Cattle Egrets.

Sunday 29th

I've not had a blank year for Ring Ouzel locally since I moved back from university in 2015, but time is running out in 2023 and, thinking outside the box, I plumped for the North Downs at Loseley this morning. There was no rouzel to be found, alas, with fairly minimal numbers of thrushes seen despite the five common species encountered and a good amount of berries between The Mount and Sunnydown.

In fact the walk was generally quiet, with the highlights a vocal Peregrine towards Guildford and, amid tepid vis-mig (which has truly stalled of late), five Lesser Redpolls east and a single Grey Wagtail west.

North Downs at Loseley.

On the way home, a look at Snowdenham Mill Pond was par for the course, with four Shoveler, a Gadwall pair and 11 Mandarin noted.

Later in the morning, I met up with Sam who was back in the UK. An hour catching up at Unstead SF involved minimal birding but, upon leaving, we noticed a striking, pale-headed first-winter large gull on South Meadow. We tentatively discussed Caspian Gull as it showed some features, but viewing was very difficult from the footpath – and the head and bill structure was a bit iffy. I got some photos but the bird moved onto the water and we lost it from view. Unfortunately, we couldn't access the viewing platform which would have given us better views. Once home, I checked the images but they were blurry and useless, so we forgot about it …

Fast-forward to Saturday 4 November and I received a copy of the Unstead Wildlife Group newsletter. There was a piece by group member Keith on gull identification – I noticed a few mistakes and a couple of images said to be depicting first-winter Herring Gulls were misidentified, and in fact showed a Lesser Black-backed Gull in one and the bird Sam and I had seen in another. 

As soon as I saw this photo of our bird alarm bells rang as it looked good for Caspian, albeit a less than classic bird. Anyway, thanks to help from Janet, we were able to confirm that Keith had taken the photos on 29th, not long after Sam and I had left, confirming it as the same bird.

Caspian Gull (Keith Lightfoot).

Long story short, it became late news of a local mega – only the second Caspian Gull recorded in south-west Surrey. The only previous one was at Seale landfill in 2002, so another was overdue to say the least, but of course identification is tricky and there aren't many sites in our area that host large gulls. Sam and I were a bit frustrated to not have nailed it there and then, but were pleased Keith got the photos. I'll still be hoping to 'properly' find one elsewhere soon, as this feels like something of an empty way to tick a south-west Surrey lifer that I'd long hoped of picking out somewhere.

And to just touch on the ID of this bird, the bill and eye on this bird troubled me in the field (and the leg length in Keith's photo isn't classic), but the pattern of the greater coverts and tertials is absolutely spot on, along with the bright white head (which Sam and I commented on in the field when it was beside a Herring Gull) and 'shawl' effect around the neck. And, while not perfect, the bill is very slender and the head small – maybe some mixed ancestry somewhere down the line but within range for Caspian Gull. I consulted gull gurus who all felt the same – not a textbook bird, but a Casp nonetheless …

Monday 30th

It was relatively bright following a night of heavy rain and there was lots of standing water and flooded paths at Thursley Common this morning. Following two consecutive good sessions here I was due a stinker, and it came today, with very little of note and next to no signs of migration.

Despite this, the mega Lesser Redpoll flock continued to amaze. It's hard to estimate how many birds are here given their mobile nature, but I'd say it's 500 at an absolute minimum – and perhaps as many as 800. Simply phenomenal stuff and probably the biggest flocks of this species – a real favourite of mine – that I've ever seen in Britain.

Lesser Redpolls and Dartford Warbler.

Tuesday 31st

Water levels were high along the Wey late afternoon, when a Mandarin and Lesser Redpoll flew over Eashing Bridge during a short post-work walk.