By Nick Morgan

THE mild weather in November was not really conducive to exciting bird sightings and so continued what has been a rather disappointing autumn.

Even usually common winter visitors like fieldfares have been mainly notable for their absence although there was a reasonable arrival of this striking northern thrush mid-month.

There was a good influx of Woodcock around the same time. The woodcock is a regular, if elusive, breeding bird in British woodlands but numbers are supplemented each winter by immigrants from Scandinavia and Russia. I received widespread reports of birds in the area and I had four at one site in Ainderby Steeple (doubling the number I’ve ever seen in the parish). Perhaps more surprisingly I flushed one from a tree. I had always believed that, because of the arrangement of their "toes", they were unable to perch.

Woodcock have superb cryptic plumage and, because the placement of their eyes allows them to see both forwards and backwards at the same time, they are almost impossible to see on the ground. In fact, in all my years of birdwatching I have only ever watched a single bird sitting, perfectly camouflaged among the bracken and dead branches. The more usual view is of a bird breaking from cover and flying swiftly away, almost like a bird of prey.

As if to emphasise the unusually mild conditions, a little ringed plover was seen at Nosterfield. These summer migrants have usually departed by September and this is the first wintering record for the area. Little egrets too seem to be an almost permanent local fixture with birds seen throughout the month at Kiplin Hall and near Great Langton.

A ring-necked parakeet was an unusual find in Scruton. These exotic birds, bright green with a red bill and long tail, are now regular breeding birds in London and the South-East with hundreds gathering at their favoured roost sites. I remember seeing my first one in Berkshire. It was a stunning sight, and sound, in a typical English landscape of cornfields and hedgerows. There have been odd records of breeding in the North but it is much more likely this bird was a local escapee.

Other sightings of note in November included kittiwake, yellow-legged gull and a flock of ruff at Nosterfield as well as regular sightings of peregrine here. Barn owls were seen at this site, at Ainderby Steeple and near Scruton and a flock of 15 waxwings was reported from Strikes at Northallerton.

Highlights from October included a superb snow bunting found by a resident birder in Scruton. These handsome northern birds are exceptionally rare visitors to the lowland parts of the area. Because they breed in the far north they have little or no contact with people and are often surprisingly tame. This bird was no exception and allowed me to get close enough to take this picture.

You still occasionally get little groups of snow buntings appearing in winter on the high tops although it’s a relatively rare event these days. They were certainly much commoner in the past and were regular enough to earn a number of local names, including the rather lovely "Sleightholme throstle".

It just remains for me to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas and a happy and bird-filled new year.