Having noted thousands of starlings crossing the A40 towards the Eastern Cleddau in recent days, the reedbed roost was checked this evening. Numbers of starlings at the roost are still quite modest - probably in the region of 30-50,000 birds came in. They were quite unsettled too, due to a very fine male goshawk hunting them over the roost and a buzzard hunting not far away. Will the starlings eventually move over to the Plumstone/Dudwell roost or will they move over to the Miscanthus again later in the winter?
Other species of interest included a single common sandpiper on the edge of the reedbed - perhaps one that occasionally (perhaps regularly?) over-winters here? A single firecrest was also near the rhododendrons in Minwear Wood, probably roosting there this evening. A dozen redwings flew over to the north side of the Cleddau estuary - presumably to roost somewhere in Pickle wood.
