Summary November 2011
November saw a range of weather from the very mild and sunny to the misty, cold and autumnal. The month started mild and then by the end of the first week there was a little rain and a considerable amount of mist, overcast skies and, of course, the evenings are dark with dusk being around 5pm. Towards the middle of the month there were a number of bright, dry and crisp days. The second half of the month remained mild – the mildest for years.
We didn’t get to the first birding group day of the month to Moore nature reserve due to a hospital appointment I could not miss. On the second day out to Conwy Anne had a hospital appointment so we couldn’t make that either. We did go out to Tatton Park on 6th but it was very quiet in the birding department. There were a few Great Crested Grebes and Tufted Ducks but largely it was Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Black-headed Gulls and very many Coots. On 22nd the birding group morning was to Neumann’s Flash & Haydyn’s Pond which I managed to get to but Anne was at physiotherapy. In fact the whole month has been made difficult by either Anne or myself having hospital / doctor / physiotherapy appointments which has played havoc with our birding. Anne had her stitches out on 29th which was also the birding group morning at Sandbach Flashes and again I managed to get to that but Anne couldn’t.
Garden birding is starting to look up with Goldfinch numbers returning to their usual levels of around twelve or fourteen at a time. We have had occasional Greenfinch visits with a maximum of three at a time. We had a House Sparrow in our window feeder which is unusual. A Dunnock is regular and a new Robin occasionally shows itself. Great Tits and Blue Tits are regular and Long-tailed Tits and Coal occasional visitors. A Blackbird comes for a bath occasionally and we have brief visits from a pair of Magpies. We have started to see some Mistle Thrushes in the trees in the next road back from our back garden.