Going back to last year in early October, I was out on my local patch at Brascote where I picked up a small wader in my binoculars; I set up my scope and there was a first for the patch in the shape of a Knot. When Carl Baggot and Adey Baker turned up to view the Knot, Carl also found a patch tick - a female Red-breasted Merganser but sadly, no images as the bird was no sooner there than it was gone again!
Knot
Later on in October, another patch tick was found by Carl - a Yellow-browed warbler, but again, sadly no images. It was found again a week or so later by Nick Sharpe; whether it was the same bird or not, who knows?
Carl was wandering on the west side of the patch one day in early November when he found a new friend - a Reeve's Pheasant. He posted a video on social media showing the bird around his feet, being rather sociable considering it was in a cover crop for game birds. Later in the month, Carl and I arranged to meet on site to have a look for it again, but with no luck - although we did find yet another patch tick - a Brambling mixed in with a flock of Chaffinch. Over the following couple of months, Carl and Adey saw in excess of twenty Brambling but it wasn't until late November that I finally saw the beautiful Reeve's Pheasant. I know it's not a tick, but it's still one very stunning bird!
Images of the stunning Reeve's Pheasant
In early December, Andy Smith found a Russian White-fronted Goose at Thornton Reservoir, so, having not seen one in the county for a very long while, I decided to go and have a look when Andy gave me the heads-up that the Greylag Goose flock it had been associating with came back onto the dam; Twenty minutes later, I was watching said bird.
Russian White-fronted Goose
Russian White-fronted Goose
Another treat from Brascote was the Starling murmuration that had been happening every evening before the flock came in to roost in the sallows. Stunning to watch between 8,000 - 10,000 birds flying above our heads; the sight and sound as they settle down is amazing!
