November 2025

Tice's Meadow November 2025

Rushmoor Lottery

We have launched our page on the Rushmoor Community Lottery.  Tickets cost £1 per week - we will receive 50p per ticket (and other local good causes 10p). You could win up to £25,000! Scan the QR code below, or click this link to go to our page. Thank you for your support.

https://www.rushmoorlottery.co.uk/support/tices-meadow-bird-group

Volunteer Work Parties

Surrey County Council are now running all volunteer work parties at Tice's Meadow in partnership with the TMBG - see below for details.

Tice’s Meadow November 2025 Overall Bird Count

The bird year list now stands at 128 species (excluding 2 escape species). It was 136 in 2024.

79 bird species were reported during November.

Thank you to everyone who reports their sightings.

For the most up to date information, click on the link below and Follow.

TMBG

A selection of sightings follows.

Saturday 1^st November

Dunlin, Nuthatch, 2 Peregrine, Water Rail

Sunday 2^nd November

Black Swan, Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Egret

Monday 3^rd November

25 Cormorant, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, 5 Grey Heron, 2 Grey Wagtail, 4 Little Egret, 24 Mute Swan

Tuesday 4^th November

13 Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Dunlin, 7 Meadow Pipit, 27 Moorhen, 16 Pochard, 27 Wigeon

Wednesday 5^th November

No reported sightings.

Thursday 6^th November

142 Black-headed Gull, Cetti’s Warbler, 3 Chaffinch, 15 Cormorant, Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Little Grebe, 28 Mute Swan, 5 Stonechat

Friday 7^th November

Buzzard, Chiffchaff, 2 Dunlin, 10 Meadow Pipit, Greenfinch, Green Woodpecker, 28 Mute Swan, 48 Pochard, 6 Snipe

A busy day cutting and burning intrusive willow in the main reed bed, with the redoubtable Surrey Choices, SCC Ranger and TMBG.

Saturday 8^th November

2 Cetti’s Warbler, 3 Little Grebe, 14 Siskin, 5 Stonechat

Sunday 9^th November

2 Egyptian Goose, Grey Heron, Little Egret

The Great White Egret is still present in the Workings, viewable from the hide.

Great White Egret and Little Egret © Jon Hawkins

Monday 10^th November

No reported sightings.

Tuesday 11^th November

Chiffchaff, 21 Cormorant, Dunlin, Goosander (23rd site record), Great White Egret, 2 Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Egret, Peregrine

Male Goosander in the Workings along with the Great White Egret and Dunlin.

Great White Egret © Malcolm Fincham

Dunlin leading a flock of Lapwing © Jon Hawkins

Wednesday 12^th November

Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Dunlin, Great White Egret, 4 Green Sandpiper, Sparrowhawk

Great White Egret © Kevin Duncan

Thursday 13^th November

Black Swan, Dunlin, Goosander, Great White Egret, 4 Green Sandpiper, Green Woodpecker, 22 Linnet, 50+ Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Rook, Water Rail

Friday 14^th November

Dunlin, Great White Egret, Greylag Goose, Linnet, Mediterranean Gull

Saturday 15^th November

Black Swan, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Dunnock

Sunday 16^th November

Chaffinch, Dunlin, 2 Egyptian Goose, Jay

Monday 17^th November

7 Chiffchaff, Dunlin, Great White Egret, 3 Green Sandpiper

Tuesday 18^th November

4 Blackbird, 2 Dunlin, Short-eared Owl (127th bird species for 2025 – 8th site record – last recorded on 02/04/2023), Water Rail

It was a great pleasure to receive a very generous donation of various bird seeds from PK's Pet Supplies. This will help to keep our Bird Feeding Station topped up over the winter months.

Wednesday 19^th November

No reported sightings.

Barn Owl on webcam

Thursday 20^th November

Dunlin, Great White Egret

Friday 21^st November

Dunlin, Great White Egret, Peregrine

Saturday 22^nd November

No reported sightings.

16 hardy souls braved the rain and gloomy skies to continue the reedbed management work in the meadow today. As always huge thanks to Surrey Choices for their sterling work.

Burning willow in the reedbed

That’s the Tice’s Meadow Bird Feeding Station store stocked up for the winter, thank you PK’s Pet Supplies for your kind donation.

Sunday 23^rd November

18 Blue Tit, 50+ Carrion Crow, Dunlin, 4 Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher

Monday 24^th November

Dunlin, 2 Song Thrush

Tuesday 25^th November

5 Buzzard, Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 4, Little Egret, Water Rail

What looks like a female Barn Owl viewable on one of the live feeds. 

All the links to the webcams can be found via the ‘Webcams’ tab at the top of this page.

Wednesday 26^th November

Cetti’s Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin, Great White Egret, Green Sandpiper, 3 Stonechat

Great White Egret

Thursday 27^th November

Dunlin, 12 Egyptian Goose, Great White Egret, 3 Green Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail, 4 Little Egret, Little Grebe, 3 Snipe, Water Rail

Friday 28^th November

Common Gull, Dunlin, Great White Egret, 4 Little Egret, Peregrine, 3 Stonechat, Water Rail

Every year the Tice's Meadow Bird Group produce a calendar to raise funds for the nature reserve (thank you Jort).

They have been selling well, if you are interested in buying a 2026 calendar for £8, please message us at ticesmeadow@hotmail.co.uk

A big thank you to the volunteers who spent the morning doing tasks for the nature reserve. Helped as ever by Surrey Choices.

Saturday 29^th November

Great White Egret, Kestrel, 2 Shelduck

We, the TMBG, are pleased to announce that we have launched a new Facebook group Friends of Tice’s Meadow to encourage and promote the use of Tice’s Meadow. The group is for the purpose of everyone, especially the local community, to post stories and photos from visits to our amazing Tice’s Meadow site. As friends of Tice’s Meadow, we work closely, and in partnership, with Surrey County Council’s Countryside Team.

Sunday 30^th November

19 Canada Goose, 39 Cormorant, 3 Crossbill (128th bird species for 2025 – 9th site record - last recorded on 15/05/2022), Dunlin, Great White Egret, 3 Green Sandpiper, Peregrine

 

October 2025

  Tice's Meadow October 2025

Rushmoor Lottery

We have launched our page on the Rushmoor Community Lottery.  Tickets cost £1 per week - we will receive 50p per ticket (and other local good causes 10p). You could win up to £25,000! Scan the QR code below, or click this link to go to our page. Thank you for your support.

https://www.rushmoorlottery.co.uk/support/tices-meadow-bird-group

Volunteer Work Parties

Surrey County Council are now running all volunteer work parties at Tice's Meadow in partnership with the TMBG - see below for details.

Tice’s Meadow October 2025 Overall Bird Count

The bird year list now stands at 126 species (excluding 2 escape species). It was 133 in 2024.

84 bird species were reported during October.

Thank you to everyone who reports their sightings.

For the most up to date information, click on the link below and Follow.

TMBG

Wednesday 1^st October

Common Sandpiper, Pintail, Wheatear, Whinchat

Whinchat © Colin Varndell

Thursday 2^nd October

Blackcap, 18 Carrion Crow, Common Sandpiper, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Green Sandpiper, 8 Grey Heron, 28 House Sparrow, 55 Jackdaw, 2 Little Egret, 3 Little Grebe, 18 Magpie, Pintail, 2 Pochard, 3 Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk, 2 Swallow, 58 Tufted Duck, Wheatear, Whinchat

Friday 3^rd October

Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenfinch, Green Sandpiper, 18 Meadow Pipit, 28 Stock Dove, 2 Swallow, 3 Wheatear

The volunteer work party spent the morning clearing willow that has grown along the riverbank of the Blackwater River and then adding the arisings to the dead hedge.

If you would like to join in, the work party dates are on this website page or view at www.x.com/TicesMeadow where they are pinned to the top. Also check out the TMBG Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ticesmeadowbirdgroup

Roger managed a very short ringing session before the heavens opened and stopped play. He was still able to ring a good number of visiting Chiffchaffs and a single Cetti's warbler as well as one of our local young Jays. Beautiful plumage on an angry bird.

Young Jay © Roger Dickey

Saturday 4^th October

2 Common Sandpiper, 15 Blue Tit, 12 House Martin, Pintail, Swallow, 2 Wheatear

Sunday 5^th October

2 Common Sandpiper, 17 Collared Dove, House Martin, 55 Lapwing, 55 Mallard, Pintail, 8 Robin, 6 Rook, 38 Shoveler, Siskin, Wheatear, Whinchat, 3 Wren

Monday 6^th October

14 Chiffchaff, 2 Common Sandpiper, Nuthatch

Tuesday 7^th October

Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Green Woodpecker, Pheasant, Pintail, 7 Stonechat

Wednesday 8^th October

Common Sandpiper, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Sandpiper, 9 Jay, Kingfisher, 2 Nuthatch, Sparrowhawk

Thursday 9^th October

Blackcap, Common Sandpiper, Dartford Warbler, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Grey Wagtail, Pintail

Female Cetti's Warbler ringed last year as a juvenile and retrapped in the reedbeds today.

Female Cetti's Warbler © Roger Dickey

Friday 10^th October

3 Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, 4 Goldcrest, Green Sandpiper, Pintail, 44 Siskin

Thank you to all the volunteers and the Surrey Choices team for their work today. We removed a pile of logs that had been obstructing the Blackwater River. Further downstream, more of the bankside willow was removed and added to the dead hedge.

Saturday 11^th October

Kingfisher, Yellow Wagtail,

Sunday 12^th October

3 Blackbird, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Pintail, 2 Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Yellow Wagtail,

Monday 13^th October

Dunlin (125th bird species for 2025, last recorded on 26/09/2024), Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Egret, Water Rail

Tuesday 14^th October

Common Sandpiper, 3 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 5 Little Egret, Peregrine, 3 Red Kite

It was a delight to welcome a group from Blooming Minds to Tice's as part of their wellbeing programme. They spent a lovely session cutting plenty of willow to take away - ready to be transformed into beautiful willow obelisks later on.

Blooming Minds from Rushmoor Voluntary Services

Wednesday 15^th October

2 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Pintail, Yellow Wagtail

Thursday 16^th October

Common Sandpiper, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Peregrine, Pintail

The Dunlin remains in the Workings and is viewable from the hide.

Some stats: 

First recorded on 25th April 2005.

Has been recorded in the months of February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. 

Highest count of forty-two on 26th April 2015.

Last recorded on 26th September 2024.

Dunlin, May 2022 © David Carlsson

Friday 17^th October

Dunlin, 16 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Kingfisher, Peregrine, 2 Pintail

This first summer Chiffchaff is living proof that the Tice's Meadow reedbeds are a migration stopover and source of food for birds flying south. Ringed in Peterborough in September, it was processed (biometrics taken) by Aspen Salisbury.

Chiffchaff © Roger Dickey

Saturday 18^th October

41 Canada Goose, Common Sandpiper, 437 Coot, Dunlin, 26 Egyptian Goose, 3 Fieldfare, Great White Egret, Green Sandpiper, 113 Herring Gull, 45 Moorhen, 37 Mute Swan, 2 Pintail, Sparrowhawk, 91 Starling, 62 Teal, 123 Woodpigeon

Great White Egret in the Workings © Kevin Duncan

Our first Saturday volunteer work party of the season started with cutting and burning of willow in the reedbed.

We plan to have work parties one Saturday and three or four Fridays a month going forward during the winter. Do come along and join in.

Sunday 19^th October

Grey Heron

It was a pleasure to attend the fascinating talk Migrating to Moths, given by Tice’s Meadow Bird Group friend Dr Martin Angel. The occasion was organised by the Wrecclesham Conservation Group to celebrate all the great work Martin has done for conservation, biodiversity, and moth recording. Friends, colleagues, and members of the local community gathered to celebrate Martin’s remarkable achievements and to hear his engaging talk.

A former marine biologist and Vice President of the British Ecological Society, Martin shared stories from his oceanographic research and his later passion for studying moths. Known locally as the Mothman of Farnham, he has recorded over 990 species of moths in the area and continues to champion local conservation at the age of 88.

The event was an inspiring celebration of a life dedicated to understanding and protecting the natural world — a fitting tribute to Martin’s enduring enthusiasm for wildlife and biodiversity.

Martin Angel talking about his life in ecology

Monday 20^th October

No reported sightings.

Tuesday 21^st October

Dunlin, 10 Chiffchaff, Common Sandpiper, Great White Egret, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Pintail

Wednesday 22^nd October

Dunlin, 4 Dunnock, 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 8 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Pintail, Sparrowhawk

Thursday 23^rd October

No reported sightings.

Friday 24^th October

28 Cormorant, Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 3 Little Egret, 42 Pied Wagtail, 19 Snipe

What a lovely day for a volunteer work party! The regular volunteers were joined by the team from Surrey Choices and together we continued with the job of removing and burning willow from the reedbed. In addition, the electrical equipment on the Swift Tower was checked and the side of the owl box was reattached.

Saturday 25^th October

4 Buzzard, 38 Greylag Goose, 3 Little Egret

Sunday 26^th October

Dunlin, 33 Feral Pigeon, 2 Green Sandpiper, 3 Little Egret

Water testing at Pea bridge on behalf of the 'Blackwater Valley Action for our Rivers' on Saturday 25th October showed the water to be in very good condition with no sign of nitrates or phosphates in the sample taken. Additional good news, the same test undertaken near Aldershot sewage works was very similar. Unfortunately, the situation is not so good further downstream, however, the head waters at Tice's are in a very good state.

Pea Bridge over the Blackwater River

Over the last couple of weeks, the nesting boxes and webcams on the side of the Kiln have undergone some maintenance. The Kestrel box has been emptied of all the twigs from when the Jackdaws made their nest and the Outside cam has been reattached.

The four live camera feeds can be viewed via the links below.

Kestrel Box

Outside Cam

Barn Owl Box

Jackdaw Box

Kestrel box with twigs

Kestrel box without twigs

Because the Jackdaws decided to set up home in the Kestrel box this year, the Kestrels ended up making a late start to the nesting season and nested in the Jackdaw box! They were there a long time, but alas no chicks.

When the box was checked, four unhatched eggs were found.

Unhatched Kestrel eggs

Monday 27^th October

Dunlin, 3 Little Egret

Tuesday 28th October

Dunlin, Green Sandpiper

On having a look at the webcams today, saw a Kestrel sitting on top of the Barn Owl Box

Wednesday 29^th October

Jack Snipe (last recorded 09/01/2025), Water Pipit (126th bird species for 2025, 26^th site record, last recorded on 08/04/2022)

Thursday 30^th October

Coal Tit, Dunlin, 136 Gadwall, 17 Great Tit, 3 Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Egret, 38 Pochard, 63 Wigeon

Friday 31^st October

Little Egret, Little Grebe

Despite being a grey day, everyone was in good spirits for our volunteer work party of removing willow from the reedbeds. Made all the brighter (literally with their attire!) by being joined by Surrey Choices.

Under leaden skies

The Pintail and Dunlin are still present in the Workings, viewable from the hide © Dan Powers