Bird meeting at Yarmouth 28th November 2021

16 members and 2 guests meet on a very cold but sunny morning at the start of the cycle track in Thorley Road for a walk to Barnfield and return. Our only Fieldfare of the morning was seen at the start of the meeting and it was noted that we could not see or hear the Rook which normally frequent the fir trees across the road. They did put in an appearance at the end of the walk.  Although there was not as much water on the meadow at Rofford Marsh we did manage to see 3 Snipe as well as some Teal and a couple of Shoveler. A Kingfisher was also seen. Here we saw 16 Moorhen, more than we normally see. Moving on we saw about 20 Mallard in the river opposite ‘Off the Rails’ café which are fed by children. 10 House Sparrows and a Dunnock was noted as well as a female Bullfinch in the hedgerow along the track. On the estuary we saw Redshank, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Dunlin, Black Tailed Godwit, about 100 Black Headed Gull, 2 Great Black Backed Gull, 4 Herring Gull and 10 Common Gull and 10 Shelduck and many Wigeon and Brent Goose. On the mud and on a field opposite we saw at least 50 Golden Plover, some were near enough to see their lovely golden plumage in the telescope and later 2 Grey Plover was also spotted so that the differences in the plumage could be seen. There were approximately 200 Lapwing both with the Golden Plover in the opposite field and on the exposed mud of the estuary. A total of 5 Little Grebe were seen: 2 near the café and 3 on the estuary. Two Grey Heron and 3 Little Egret were also noted as was a Marsh Harrier. On the Barnfield scrape the Spotted Redshank that has overwintered here for some years was picked out to everyone’s delight. In all 46 species were noted. Jackie Hart