SUFFOLK BIRD REPORT FOR 1956 Seventh
Annual
Report
RECORDS COMMITTEE : G.
B.
W.
H.
G.
BENSON,
PAYN,
F.
K.
DR. P.
COBB R.
{Editor),
WESTALL,
F.
C.
A. E.
COOK, VINE.
JANUARY was a fairly mild month and in consequence there were few hard-weather visitors. HoweVer, on the last day of the month the temperature dropped sharply.
The Lowestoft Field Club record that at Lowestoft, on February Ist, the maximum temperature was only 22°F., and the groynes and sea wall were coated with a thick layer of frozen sea water. Frequent falls of snow occurred up to the 24th and sharp to hard frost on almost every night. The cold spell brought Knot, Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper, Sanderling and Oystercatchers, down to the beach and sea-wall, and by the 3rd, many of them, but not Oystercatchers, were frequenting the fish-market. Some foraged for food along the roads at the back of the market, at times almost under the wheels of moving lorries. In Lowestoft harbour appeared small parties of Little Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Cormorant, Scaup, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye, Velvet Scoter and Common Scoter. Other species, which appeared in ones and twos, were Red-throated Diver, Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Red-necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe, Long-tailed Duck and Coot. OfTshore were rafts of up to 5,000 Scoter, and with them were Velvet Scoter, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Mallard, Wigeon, Redbreasted Merganser and Scaup. Some idea of the mortality during this cold spell is shown by the following list of tide-line corpses compiled by members of the Lowestoft Field Club. Column " A " is from Lowestoft to Gorleston during February, while column " B " is from Southwold to Lowestoft from January to March.