DECEMBER 2008
30th - Four Waxwings were in a tree at the bottom of one of the patch birders garden at Clevedon today, pity he was on Walton Common at the time...... gone by the time he got home! Keep scanning those berry bushes/trees!
29th - At Clevedon today there were 50 Shelduck, 110 Wigeon, 60 Teal, a Little Grebe, 2 Little Egrets, 30 Oystercatchers, a Golden Plover (heard), 22 Grey Plover, 70+ Lapwing, 10+ Knot, 1200 Dunlin, 2+ Snipe, a Jack Snipe, 120 Curlew, a Spotted Redshank (heard), 95 Redshank, a Green Sandpiper, 24+ Turnstones, a Stonechat and 2 Ravens.
28th - A Red Kite was seen by the Walton Park Hotel, Clevedon heading west today.
26th - An Iceland Gull was an excellent sighting just north of Clevedon today.
21st - Fairly quiet at Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve today with 2 Pochard, 2 Gadwall, 8 Tufted Ducks, 16 Shoveler, a Little Grebe and 4 Reed Buntings on/around the pools. On the coast here there were c250 Dunlin, 10 Lapwing, 2 Curlew and 4 Shelduck. A Purple Sandpiper was again seen in the Channel View area of Clevedon. Thanks to Pete Pollard for the pictures below taken on a recent visit to Clevedon.
20th - 16 Little Egrets were counted going into the roost at Clevedon this evening.
18th - At Clevedon today there were 40 Canada Goose, 90+ Shelduck, 70 Wigeon, 40 Teal, a female Merlin, 2 Little Egrets, 12 Oystercatchers, 10 Ringed Plover, 80+ Lapwing, 8 Knot, `1200 Dunlin, a few Snipe, 42 Black-tailed Godwit(in flight only over the mouth of the Yeo heading SW), 170 Curlew, a Spotted Redshank, 220 Redshank, 35 Turnstones, 800 Black-headed Gulls, 10+ Common Gulls and a GBB Gull.
15th - The Black-headed Gull flock increased to c2400 at Clevedon today, also seen here were 85 Canada Goose(60 at Dowlais), 45 Shelduck, 60 Wigeon, 50 Teal, 4 Little Egrets, 31 Oystercatchers, 11 Ringed Plover, 2 Golden Plover, 22 Grey Plover, 280 Lapwing, 45 Knot, 1200 Dunlin, 15+ Snipe, 110 Curlew, a Spotted Redshank (heard), 220 Redshank, 28 Turnstones, 6 Common Gulls, a Cetti's Warbler and 2 Ravens.
14th - The cold weather pushed c1500 Black-headed gulls to the coast at Clevedon today, if I could have been bothered I suspect a few Med Gulls would have been with them but I did find at least 15 Common Gulls. Also here was a Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshanks, c70 Dunlin, 11 Ringed Plover, a Snipe, c40 Redshank, 5 Oystercatchers, c50 Wigeon, 20 Shelduck, a Little Egret and 2 Ravens.
13th - At Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve there were 22 Shovelor, 17 Gadwall, 14 Tufted duck, 5 Pochard, Goldeneye, 5 Stonechats, c10 each of Coot and Little Grebe, Cettis, c10 Reed buntings and 5 Stonechats .
12th - The first Brent Goose (dark-bellied) of the year was at Clevedon today.
11th - At Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve today there were 140 Teal, 20 Gadwall, 28 Shoveler, 18 Tufted, female Goldeneye, 1 fem/immature type Merlin, 64 Snipe (saltmarsh), 1 Barn Owl and 18 Skylarks. Five Redpoll were at the Perfect Bite pools at Clevedon today.
7th - At Portbury Wharf today there were 22 Shoveler, 22 Gadwall, 18 Tufted Ducks, 5 Pochard, the female Goldeneye, 8 Little Grebes, 2 Water Rails and 5 Stonechats. Four more Pochard were at Portishead boating lake. At the Clevedon Yeo there were 2 Knot, 16 Grey Plover, a few Turnstones, c500 Dunlin, 10+ Ringed Plover, a leucistic Teal and 18 Shovelers (quite an influx it would seem). In the Gordano valley this evening a Barn Owl was seen well along with 9 Snipe and 3 Woodcock.
4th - Shooting at the Clevedon-Yeo disrupted birding today with the following seen - c70 Wigeon, 12+ Teal, 1/2 Little Egrets, 16 Oystercatchers, 2 Ringed Plover, 100+ Lapwing, c1100 Dunlin, c70 Curlew, c90 Redshank, a few Turnstones and 2 GBB Gulls.