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November certainly produced a rich mix of species. As expected, Carsington Water saw its first Great Northern Divers of the winter, but the finding of a Red -throated Diver at St Chad's Water was far more of a surprise. We are now well used to Little Egrets and Great White Egrets but the four Cattle Egrets that were found may be a sign of yet another breeding heron species for the county.
More Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans passed through the county whilst a Bean Goose at Carsington Water only just defied identification to specific species status. A long list of wildfowl included Garganey, Common Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser.
The only white-winged gull was a single Mediterranean Gull, but a number of Yellow-legged Gulls and Caspian Gulls were successfully identified. Yet another surprise was a very late Swallow.
Amongst the passerines were Black Redstart, Rock Pipits, three Firecrest reports, some excellent finch counts, a nice spread of Common Crossbills and (at last!) a Great Grey Shrike. On top of all that, three separate Snow Buntings would have delighted the finders and those lucky enough to catch up with one of them.
Bryan Barnacle and Kate Barnacle