October 28th

Braved the heavy rain and sleat this afternoon with little to show for my efforts. A drake Pochard was present on the main pool along with the regular 3 Greylag geese. Aside from the Pochard numbers of ducks and grebes seemed low. Gull numbers were building up already by 15:00, so a quick count yeilded 80+ BH Gull and exactly 100 LBB Gull. It would be interesting to get a more accurate estimate of the total number of gulls that are roosting/pre-roosting on the res at the moment, but this will have to wait for another day, as when the sleet turned to snow i got too cold to stand there any longer.
L Johnson...

October 25th - Afternoon

Another brief check of the pool late afternoon produced 400+ BH Gull, 200+ LBB Gull and 6 Herring Gull in the roost. A lone Fieldfare was feeding with the Starling and Lapwing flock in the ploughed field to the south of the main pool.
L Johnson...

October 25th

Very little of note on a brief walk around the main pool this morning. 30+ Redwing flew over heading west, and 250 Wood Pigeon flew south. 3 Goldcrest were along the north shore. 14 Siskin and a Kingfisher were also seen.
L Johnson...

October 21st

It was very quiet around the site this morning, with little of note. Although clear skys in the past few weeks have produced good visable migrant totals, very little passed over this morning, given the good weather. Totals included 1 Mistle thrush, 10 Redwing, 2 Song thrush, 2 Meadow pipit and 3 Skylark. Red legged Partridge numbers seem to have built up over the past few weeks with several large flocks in the area; todays count reached 44 birds between 3 flocks. Other species noted this morning were 10 Goldcrest, Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtail, Bullfinch, 35 Siskin and a Willow tit.
L Johnson...

October 20th

Went out this morning in the hope that the strong south westerly winds might have blown a sea bird in, but no such luck. Due to to wind passarines were keeping low and were therefore difficult to locate. Goldcrests were still numbering at least 6, with 3 Coal tit and a willow tit, all sheltering in the bushes along the railway line. 25+ Siskin, 30 Redwing and a single Fieldfare were also around the area to the north of the small pool. An immature male Peregrine passed low over the eastern end of the small pool at around 9:30, heading south. Tufted Duck numbers on the two pools have increased slightly over the past few days with around 35 present today. The seemingly ever present drake Gadwall was still at the eastern end of the main pool.
L Johnson...

October 18th

With clear skys again this morning there was a large amount of visable migration taking place. The majority of birds flying over seemed to take a line that passed over the southern edge of the pools, heading north west from the end of the main pool and heading off just south of Ladywalk. Species counts included the first Fieldfares of the autumn, with 57 over. The majority of birds passing through were Redwing, numbering 356 birds. Also present in the thrush flocks were 1 Song thrush and 2 Mistle thrush. Meadow pipits totaled 115, with 11 Skylark and a single Linnet. Wood Pigeon passage was also evident with a minimum of 300 over. Also noted this morning were 40+ Siskin, 1 Nuthatch, 2 Bullfinch and 1 Willow tit. Goldcrest numbers, although still high, were down on the last few days with 15 present.
L Johnson...

October 16th

This morning saw another high count of 20 Goldcrest. One of the areas that was most productive on Tuesday for goldcrests was not checked today, therefore the actual number of birds present on site may be much higher. At least 2 Coal tit were present with the groups of Goldcrest. There seemed to be an increase in visable migration taking place this morning, compared to that of the previous few days, probably down to a light north westerly wind. Birds passing over included 40 Meadow Pipit, 18 Skylark and 8 Redwing. Other birds noted this morning were 13 RL Partridge, 20+ Siskin, Green Woodpecker, Kingfisher, 3+ Bullfinch and an adult Herring Gull.
L Johnson...

October 14th

This morning saw a total of 21 Goldcrest around the site. Birds were scattered around in small groups. This raises the question when will Shustoke's first Firecrest and Yellow Browed Warbler's be? Firecrest is surley long over due having never been recorded at the site. With so many Goldcrests around it must only be a matter of time. 3 Coal tit were present mixed in with the Goldcrest flocks. Visable migration today included 16 Meadow pipit, 5 Skylark and 3 Redwing. Other species noted were 1 Pochard (drake), 2 grey Wagtail, 15+ Siskin, 1 Treecreeper, 16 RL Partridge and Sparrowhawk.
L Johnson...

October 13th

The pools were again very quiet today, with only a drake Gadwall and 24 Lapwing of note. An impressive flock of at least 90 Siskin were present to the north of the small pool, with other small flocks present on the north shore of the main pool. Tit flocks around the site contained 13 Goldcrest, 1 Willow tit and a Treecreeper. Other birds of note were Kingfisher, Mistle Thrush, 3 Bullfinch and Sparrowhawk. 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail and 8 Skylark flew over.
L Johnson...

October 12th

The pool was very busy in the sunny weather this afternoon, and as a result there was not much around. At least 10 Red Legged Partridge were present in the fields south of the small pool. 5 Herring Gulls were on the main pool with a minimum of 30 LBB Gull. Around 20 Siskin were scattered around the site. A tit flock south east of the main pool held 20+ Long tailed tit, 1 Goldcrest and a Nuthatch. 1 Grey Wagtail flew over. Common Darter and Migrant Hawker Dragonflies were noted. Butterflies making the most of the late sunshine were 1 Comma and 2 Small Tortoiseshell.
L Johnson...

October 10th

No sign of yesterdays Med Gull but reasonable numbers of other Gulls present this morning on the main pool, with at least 400 BH Gull, 40 LBB Gull and 2 Herring Gull. Highlight of the morning was an immature female Peregrine which circled the main pool before drifting off north east. A total of 22 Red legged Partridge were present in the fields to the west of the main pool with a further single bird south of the small pool. Some visable migration was noted this morning, with 14 Redwing, 2 Meadow pipit, 2 Skylark and a Swallow over. Other species of note were 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Grey Wagtail, 9 Siskin, 2 Goldcrest and 1 Chiffchaff.
L Johnson...

October 9th

An adult Mediterranean Gull was reported to be present late afternoon

Oct 6th.

Nothing to report from the pool this morning in very heavy rain and strong winds. Just one Common Sandpiper noted and a few Swallows passing through. Gt crested Grebe numbers are building up but to wet to count them today. Hopefully we will get a Leach's or a Phalarope shortly .
S Seal.

October 5th

A quick stroll in the torrential rain around the main pool early this morning produced 3 Greylag Geese, 2 drake Gadwall, 3 Grey Wagtail and a Goldcrest. 5 LBB Gull flew over with a 1st winter Herring Gull.
L Johnson...