NOVEMBER, with its mild weather, was rather a disappointment from a birdwatching point of view.

Even the typical winter visitors we might expect at this time of year were more notable for their absence.

This was particularly the case with the thrushes. Normally birds like Fieldfares and Redwings should have arrived en masse to gather in noisy flocks in the local fields.

Continental Blackbirds, often distinguished by slimmer build and darker bills, would also have typically flooded in now to feed in gardens and parks.

The mild weather will certainly have played a part in keeping birds in their breeding areas but the main reason is likely to be the excellent crops of hedgerow fruit this year.

With no shortage of food the birds will have had little incentive yet to make the perilous sea crossing. As if to underline the strange conditions there was a report of a Swallow at Forcett on the incredibly late date of the 25th.

Undoubtedly the most exciting report of the month was of seven Glossy Ibis flying over Nosterfield. If confirmed this would be the first sighting of the species in the area.

These rare visitors from the Continent have been seen in increasing numbers in the UK in the last few years and it is a species I have been predicting to appear locally for some time.

In flight they appear rather like dark, slightly misshapen Curlews. It’s only close up, and in good light, that they live up to their name with their plumage showing a wonderful iridescent mix of colours.

A Caspian Gull, identified by the dedicated gull watchers in the roost at Lingham, was almost as rare being one of only a handful of local sightings.

Another scarce species recorded in November, a Bean Goose, wasn’t actually seen by any local birders.

The only reason we know it was present is it carried a small radio transmitter as part of a scientific study.

The bird had been tracked crossing the North Sea from Scandinavia to the Yorkshire coast and was later recorded stopping off near Newsham Ponds by the A66.

A message went out for local birders to try and find the bird to see if it was with a family party. One of the Newsham stalwarts, Dave Moore, spent hours trying to locate the elusive goose only to be told the bird was now north of Glasgow!

The increasing miniaturisation of electronics means more and more birds are able to be tagged in this way. The data has revealed some amazing journeys.

One example is the Wheatear, a regular nester on the Yorkshire moors. In spring other Wheatears pass through and use the Faeroes and Iceland as stepping stones to Greenland.

But in autumn these birds make a single non-stop Atlantic crossing all the way from Greenland to southwest Europe and then onwards to south of the Sahara.

In this mammoth journey they average around 300km per day and all from a bird barely bigger than a Robin.

Other sightings of note in November included Whooper Swans at Scorton, Nosterfield and Thorpe Farm, Black-tailed Godwits at Newsham and Nosterfield, 70 Pinkfooted Geese over Kirkby Fleetham, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker near Crakehall and two Little Egrets and a Marsh Harrier at Nosterfield.

It just remains for me to wish readers a very merry Christmas.