Buntings At Cockersand....And More!

The Buntings.

A Snow Bunting was found at Cockersand on 25 October, and having paid four visits Cockersand, I failed to find the bird....

But on Wednesday 12 November I was delighted to be watching the 2 Snow Buntings in my video, giving excellent views from the concrete section of the coastal footpath feeding along the tidewrack.

Snow Bunting. Mario Chin.

Both Snow Bunting sightings at Cockersand are credited to Rosie Briggs and Mario Chin in a joint effort, and I am grateful to Rosie for pointing me in the right direction to see these two birds, and to Mario for his image. I am also grateful to Howard Stockdale for his image in my header. 

The Geese.

When I arrived at the Lighthouse Cottage, in the field behind Crook Cottage I counted 58 geese, by which time two skeins of 130 were overhead from the south, they circled and came down to join those already in the field, to make a total of 188 Pink-footed Geese, by far the best count in our immediate area this winter.

The Swans.

As I walked along the headland, I could see the swan herd which remain in the fields stretching out to Bank End, as far as I could see they still number up to 200 Whooper Swan.

The Bat.

The best experience of the day came when I saw what I initially thought was a Snipe flying over Abbey Farm towards me. But those thoughts were short lived, when I soon realised it wasn't the flight or behaviour of a Snipe, but that of a bat.

Noctule Bat. Dennis Atherton.

I watched in amazement for a full 15 minutes to see this creature making several dives as it caught the flying insects to eat on the wing, it was a Noctule Bat. The head and body measurement is 60 - 82mm, with a wingspan of 320 - 400mm, and is one of the largest of UK Bats....I made six attempts at catching it on video but failed miserably.

The Godwits.

Black-tailed Godwit. Howard Stockdale.

Howard was in touch and sent me his image of Black-tailed Godwit over Cockersand on Thursday. I would guess this is a large part of my 3,500 which flew purposefully south over Plover Scar on Monday.

The Cuckoo.

Lots of visitors to B2B will remember Wilfred the Cuckoo who was satellite tagged last year in June 2024 at Worlingham Marshes Suffolk. I featured Wilfred in two posts last year, and posted this piece from a BTO update earlier this year in March 2025 when he was on his return to the UK....

There had been no signal from Wilfred's transmitter since 20 March when he was in south-east Guinea, but good news eventually came through in the past few days, that he had made remarkable progress and was in fact now in Spain. Currently just north of Guadalupe, having covered at least 2,174 miles since leaving Guinea, and in excess of 4,350 miles since he departed his wintering grounds in Angola.

Today Sunday 16 November, I'm saddened to read the following from BTO....

Sadly it looks like we may have heard the last from Wilfred the Suffolk Cuckoo, his last transmission was received on 20 September when he was in southern Niger. Having been tagged in 2024, he has provided us with data for a complete migration route to his wintering grounds and back, as well as his southbound journey as far as Niger. 

I am personally gutted and saddened to hear the news about the demise of this remarkable bird....LONG LIVE WILFRED.