The first snipe (below) of winter was seen on the 9th, although given how difficult it was to see for the rest of the month, it could have arrived a while ago. Similarly difficult to see were water rail, although because they have been heard from several areas of reed-bed including two birds heard squealing at each other, there are probably several on site now.
Chris Farthing’s Woodberry bird highlights: October 2023
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
October can be a frustrating month here. It is the month when more rare birds arrive in the UK than any other, but these birds rarely make it far inland. Here we are lucky to see a few of the late autumn migrants passing through, although we can at least usually rely on the arrival of the last of our winter-only birds.
Snipe
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
The autumn shoveler flock is slow to leave this year, they usually decrease to a handful through October but this year they continued to increase and numbered over fifty at the end of the month. Gadwall numbers also stayed high but we had no sightings at all of teal in October.
Kingfishers have been regular visitors for a few months now and they remained near-daily for the first half of October before becoming harder to see. Sparrowhawks are being seen most days, usually causing a commotion amongst the local gulls and crows.
Flyover highlights of October were a Red Kite on the 10th and several sightings of jackdaws, usually as a pair which may have been the same birds spending some time locally. Meadow pipits in small numbers passed over throughout the month.
Redwing
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
October 9th was a big day for redwing (above) migration in London with some sites having thousands of birds passing over. Here we had around seventy flying over in a few flocks. From that day on it was possible to see a few birds in the trees around the site, especially the mature oaks. The situation with fieldfare (below) was similar, with small numbers passing over and then the odd bird being seen subsequently in trees.
Fieldfare
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
Goldcrest numbers are often at their highest of the year in October and this year was no exception. A coal tit has been seen regularly on the feeders along the woodland trail. Chiffchaff numbers are still high, though they often drop once we start to get a few frosts. We are still getting the occasional blackcap too.
The total number of bird species seen here in October 2023 was 54, a shockingly low total considering we have had an October average of 65 in recent years. Likely contributing factors were the high water levels throughout the month and a mixture of weather-related reasons which meant that some of the winter birds haven’t arrived yet.