Most of December

So, it's been a fairly quiet month on the patch. Best has been Jack Snipe, an addition for Patchwork Challenge, at Meering; one here on 13th was bettered by two in the same spot on the 22nd. Hopefully they'll stick into the New Year, as it would be good to get them early on in 2016...

Elsewhere, a quick look at Kilvington near the start of the month produced the redhead Smew, and on the same day (the 6th), 2 Short-eared Owls were hunting over rough grassland just south of Balderton, at the eastern end of Staple Lane (where the new Southern Link Road will join the A1).

I've also finally managed a couple of weekday visit to Cotham Landfill, on 21st and 22nd. Despite very low gull numbers for this time of year (only a couple of hundred Herring and GBB Gulls), 2 adult Caspian Gulls were present on the 21st, along with 2 Lesser Black-backs. I could't locate either of these the following day, but had brief views of what was probably a 3rd W Caspo; this promptly walked out of view, and then the whole lot were flushed and didn't return. 

And now I'm back in Suffolk for Christmas. Some leisurely birding on the Orwell with David Walsh produced not two, but three Great Northern Divers - a nice start!

GND no. 1

GND no. 2 and 3