Ashlett Creek area - 16th November

The weather was cool and cloudy, but no rain. The highlights were a Peregrine settled on a post and good views of a Grey Wagtail.

I was a little early to start the walk, so I went into the Jolly Sailor and all the others were in their!! At 2pm we left the pub. Shaun left and Carole joined us. We were lucky as we missed all the rain from the morning and the weather was mild and cloudy with some sun.
Firstly we had a look at the pool behind the pub. There were at least 7 Little Grebe here with a few Black-headed Gulls and a Little Egret. In the nearby trees and fields we there were Magpie, Pheasant, Woodpigeons, Dunnock, Robin and a flock of Long-tailed Tits. We walked onto the grassy areas overlooking the tidal mudflats by the little marina. There were a few Black-tailed Godwit and Curlew and Heather found a couple of Redshank and Derek saw some Shelduck. Then Tracy found a Grey Wagtail feeding at the edge of a puddle close by. It was nice to get some good views of this as we don’t often see them. Pied Wagtails, a few Carrion Crow and Greenfinch flew over.
We then walked south, firstly through some woodland and then along the foreshore. The tide was pretty far out, but waders were few and far between, at least to start with. The next time we stopped Lyz found some more Redshank and there were Cormorants, a Heron and then Tracy found a Peregrine, sunning itself while perched on a post in the distance. Through the ‘scope we could see all the markings and it was quite a good view.
As we walked on a Rook flew over. It was good to compare the flight outline of this and the Carrion Crows we had seen previously as identifying them in flight when they are not close can be far from easy.
Further along the foreshore were a few groups of Starling and Carole found some Meadow Pipit with Pied Wagtail and a small flock of Linnet. On the mudflats were flocks of Teal, groups of Brent Geese and, further out, Wigeon. On the river we could see at least 8 Great-crested Grebe and there were probably more. Lastly we checked a flock of Black-headed Gulls on some shingle. No Mediterranean, but there were a few Common Gull.
Simon Curson