Winters arrived!

A bitterly cold walk down to The Patch this morning, the hide giving scant shelter from the SE wind:
 08.45-09.30
Mallard: 2E
Shelduck: 1E
Common Scoter: 3E
Red-throated Diver: 15E
Great-crested Grebe: 17E
Cormorant: c200E
Gannet: C100 feeding off shore
Oystercatcher: 2E
Kittiwake: c50 feeding off shore
Auk sp: 17E   12W

 2 of the 3 Cattle Egrets by the entrance track

 On the reserve the 3 Cattle Egrets by the entrance track in Boulderwall Fields, also a Great White Egret by the ditch, plenty of Wigeon and feral Geese in the fields. From Makepiece Hide an adult Caspian Gull and an adult Yellow-legged Gull, also 3 Goldeneye of note among the usual wildfowl.

 Stonechat at Cockles Bridge

Form Cockles Bridge the 10 Bewick Swans still with the Mute Swans and 2 Marsh Harriers there.

30minutes at the fishing boats early afternoon saw very little at sea, though a Peregrine teasing the  Gulls was nice to watch. Nearby a Black Redstart in a private garden.

This afternoon on the reserve a 2w and another adult Caspian Gull also a 2w Yellow-legged Gull, once again the Gulls came in to roost on darkness so little was seen, a Merlin spooked the early arrivals as it sped across the lake, a Great White Egret flew past the visitor centre.