November was a very mixed month for weather, but in general it was mild with the first substantial rains of the winter occurring towards the end of the month. The first week saw southerly winds from the Azores raising temperatures. This, combined with some long spells of sunshine, was almost spring-like.
By the start of the second week, a cold south-easterly airstream originating in southern Siberia brought a chill to the area and some good birds. However, Atlantic depressions quickly reasserted their dominance by mid-week, bringing back milder and wetter weather. From then to the month end, the west to south-west winds brought some long spells of rainfall, but it was mild and winds were usually light.
By November, the variety of birds recorded from the park is diminishing. The chances of any new arrivals drop off markedly, so it was rather pleasing to locate a superb adult male Black Redstart on the northern park on the morning of Monday 24 November. This dapper male with his mix of grey and black body plumage and bright orange rump and tail was a real show stopper! He dashed around picking up some sizeable caterpillars and an apparent abundance of insects in spite of some frosty mornings. He could invariably be found between the children’s play area and the new visitor centre building site. Feeding from a variety of perches including the tree support posts, fences, walls and even the heights of the lampposts, he was extremely faithful to this small area of habitat.
Black Redstarts are a very scarce visitor to the clay pits area. They usually appear in early spring, March and April and rarely in September and October. Most of the birds recorded are immatures in rather more dowdy plumage than this year’s super male. There have been no previous occurrences in the area in November, but the species does occasionally winter this far north in Britain. It is much more regular in the warmer south and south-west. This male remained on the park until Sunday 30 November, so hopefully he may attempt to stay through the winter to brighten some cold winter days.
After the excitement of the Black Redstart, other birds might have been a bit more mundane. But further notables included a Waxwing flying west over the park on 23 November, a female Stonechat on 16 November and incredibly a Cetti’s Warbler on 9 and 23 November.
The call of the Waxwing, often likened to the jingling of a small bell, is a sure-fire method of locating flying birds. They seem to call constantly when on the move, but can be remarkably quiet and unobtrusive when busy feeding on their winter diet of berries. In spite of the availability of some juicy looking guelder rose berries around the park, this individual unfortunately failed to drop in for a feast. The Stonechat was in the same area around the new lagoons where there was a female in late October, so it could be the same bird spending most of its time somewhere outside the park.
The first Cetti’s Warblers to be found in the clay pits were only recorded in February and March 2003. One bird was present on Water’s Edge from 19-24 March, so it was staggering to find a calling Cetti’s in the southern part of the park on the morning of 9 November. This bird moved from the southern edge of the eastern site of special scientific interest (SSSI) into the reed and bramble scrub alongside the southern end of Marsh Lane. There, it continued to call and eventually appeared in a low hawthorn, giving good views for this typically secretive and skulking bush-warbler. The fact that it had appeared within ten metres of where the bird was seen in March must suggest the possibility that it was a returning bird coming back to winter in the same area. Strangely though, it was not heard or seen again until 23 November when it was back in the same spot! Either it is a very quiet bird or it is wandering around other suitable areas of habitat in or outside the park.
Cetti’s Warblers are recent colonists to Britain having spread north through France, breeding for the first time in Kent the early 1970’s. Hard weather can decimate their population and such winters have knocked back the colonisation of Britain on a number of occasions up to the early 1990’s. Recent mild winters have seen the population increase and now they appear to be starting to push north from their former northernmost stronghold in Norfolk. Hopefully, if we continue to receive wintering birds, a pair may soon get together and breed in the clay pits, which has an abundance of suitable habitat.
A Jay flying east over the park on 15 November heralded a good start to the monthly guided walk, which also gave good views of a wide variety of birds at the feeders. Good views included Lesser Redpoll and Reed Buntings, a party of three Pintail flying west up the Humber and a brilliant male Sparrowhawk sunning itself in the sallows in the eastern SSSI.
Wildfowl were generally unremarkable, but an immature Red-breasted Merganser seen fishing in the northern ponds on 11 November became the eighth new species for the park this year. Although recorded annually on the adjacent Humber estuary, this was the first time that this predominantly sea-going duck had occurred on the park ponds. Otherwise, up to 30 Teal, 30 Gadwall, 12 Shoveler and one to two Goldeneye were the most exciting species of wildfowl.
The part of the northern park between the play area and the Humber attracted a variable sized flock of finches, including 41 Greenfinch, 8 Chaffinch, 4 Linnet and 4 Goldfinch. However, the collection of seven Song Thrushes in the same spot at the end of the month was more notable. Wintering Fieldfares and Redwing were very scarce, but there were some good arrivals of Blackbirds, with a peak of 50 being counted on 26 November. Of these, 36 were feeding on hawthorn berries in the hedge around the car park.
There were no late records of Chiffchaff or Blackcap this year, but a nice mixed tit flock included a minimum of 16 Long-tailed Tit, 8 Blue Tit, 4 Great Tit, Coal Tit, three Goldcrest and a Treecreeper. As usual, the well-stocked feeders soon attracted a regular clientele of diners including a Great Spotted Woodpecker. They also brought a park first when a party of feeding Tree Sparrows became regulars on the seed feeders, increasing from one to four birds by the month end. There was also the usual throng of Blue and Great Tits, Dunnocks, Robins, Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Reed Buntings. Four Lesser Redpolls wandered around the park and there was a flock of 20-30 Goldfinch on the alders. Just one Siskin was seen in marked contrast to the last two years.
In addition to the regular Sparrowhawks and Kestrel, there was a Merlin hunting in tandem with an adult Peregrine over the area around the sewage works on 4 November.
No butterflies were recorded, but an amazingly late Common Darter was on the wing on 15 November on a particularly warm morning. A weasel was around the building site on 26 November and foxes became frequent visitors.