From car park 23 Tufted Duck, 40 Mallard, 5 Canada geese, 1 pochard, 1 x Great Crested Grebe, 3 active Coal Tits, 1 Marsh Tit, numerous blue & Great – heard Raven – saw male pheasant & got cold fingers
Plus 1 frozen heron
5 x Black Headed Gull, 1 x Common, 1 x Egyptian Goose, Wood Pigeon, Robin too
2 carrion crow & heading home now
Mixed flock of Greylag & Canada Geese considering splash down circa 80
West End:- 18 x Canada Goose, 2 x Mute Swan, 1 x Egyptian Goose, 51 x Mallard, 4 x Pochard, 7 x Tufted Duck, 2 x Stock Dove, 5 x Woodpigeon, 1 x Coot, 7 x Great Crested Grebe, 19 x Lapwing, 1 x Sparrowhawk, 2 x Goshawk, 1 x Kingfisher, 3 x Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 x Magpie, 5 x Jackdaw, 3 x Carrion Crow, 1 x Marsh Tit, 8 x Blue Tit, 3 x Great Tit, 4 x Long-tailed Tit, 1 x Nuthatch, 3 x Redwing, 2 x Blackbird, 3 x Robin, 1 x Chaffinch
This afternoon 270 Lapwings went west flocks were 28, 1, 2, 22, 24, 50, 4, 93, 1, 22, 1, 17 & 2.
Ducks-52 Teal, 33 Tufted Duck, 12 Wigeon, 11 Pochards, 6 Gadwall, 6 Mandarins & 2 Shoveler. 6 Mute Swans, 1 Little Grebe, 28 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Little Egrets, 4 Grey Herons, 1 Kingfisher, 18 Common Gulls, 6 Herring Gulls, 66 Black headed Gulls, 3 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels, Red Kite, male Sparrowhawk.
5 Fieldfares, 26 Starling, 2 Pied Wagtails, 3 Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Marsh Tit and 8 Long tailed tits.
West end this morning 80-90% ice cover but water still along north bank.
Totals were 45 Tufted Duck, 34 Teal, 15 Pochards, 3 Mandarins, 7 Gadwall, 68 Mallard, 3 Coots, 2 Little Grebes, 4 Egyptian geese, 41 Canada Geese, 87 Greylags geese, 5 Grey Heron, Great White Egret, 3 Little Egrets, Kingfisher, male Goshawk, 2 Raven, Marsh Tit, 1 Pied wagtail, 1 Grey wagtail, single flock of 27 Lapwings flew west as did 4 Common Gulls.
WeirWood on a cold but lovely sunny mid morning. There were 16 Tufted Duck plus 35 Pochard, Wigeon, the pair of Goosanders and a few Gadwall. A Little Egret adult was around plus a Snipe all from the c/pk. The usual crowd on the feeders inc’ Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Tits. At Whillett’s 2 more Water Rails seen in the channel and in the nearby fields 3 Brambling, 4 Yellowhammers and quite a few Chaffinches. Along the north bank Green Woodpecker, Treecreeper and another Marsh Tit. Back at the west end a Chiffchaff was seen in the wood between the hide and 1st lay-by. From the dam a pair of Goshawk, also a Great Egret was along the north bank. A Kestrel male was hunting along the dam plus several Herring Gulls with 2 Common Gulls amongst them, all ad’s. 15 Great-crested and 4 Little Grebes were mid reservoir. 74 Fieldfare were also noted with ca100 Redwings plus 3 Linnets were seen. Below the dam another Chiffchaff also Red Kite, female Sparrowhawk and 3 Buzzards. A very bird filled time here today. I left at 12:00hrs.
Afternoon at west end with Edward and Nigel.
2 Goosander (redheads) Great white Egret, 28 Pochards, 13 Wigeon, 11 Gadwall, 5 Tufted Ducks, 3 Teal, 1 Little Grebe.
2 Goshawks including female chasing a Woodpigeon low along Pintail bank,
After leaving Alastair I went back to West End for a short while before leaving and a recount of wildfowl gave an increase to 9 Gadwall and 15 Wigeon.
Wishing a Happy New Year to you all.
3.5 hours at the east end produced 38 species. 25 GC Grebes, 180 BH Gulls, 4 Herring Gulls, 2 Canadas, 4 Egyptian Geese. Behind the dam, 9 Redwings, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, 4 Siskins, 3 Bullfinches, 2 Chaffinches, 3 Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, Kestrel, various other woodland species etc.
At the west end partly with Bob, 32 Pochards, 27 Mallards, 11 Teal, 11 Wigeon, 8 Gadwall, 6 Mandarins,5 Tufted Ducks, 3 Coots, 2 Moorhens, 2 Little Grebes, 3 GC Grebes, 4 Canada’s, 4 Egyptians, 3 Grey Herons.
2 Buzzards, male Sparrowhawk around feeders and Goshawk flew across reservoir putting the Woodpigeons up.
Chiffchaff from 2nd lay-by, in stubble field 2 House Sparrows, 26 Linnets, 22 Goldfinch with numbers of both Fieldfares and Redwings .
A Common Snipe flew west as did a Common Gull and Lesser- black backed gull and group of 14 Lapwings flew east maybe start of cold weather movement.
Whillet’s added 2 Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Jay, Bullfinch is 2 lovely Green Woodpeckers, I missed the Kingfisher at the bridge.
In north bank fields 50 Chaffinches, 25 Goldfinches, 8 Lesser Redpolls, 3 each of Linnet, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer and finally 2 female Bramblings all feeding on seed heads. 2 Fallow Deer and a nice Red Fox noted.
Oh 2 Collard Doves flew over west end towards house at T- junction too.
1pm – beautiful afternoon at the west end
9 greylags, 1 manadrin, 7 tufted, 6 widgeon, 6 teal, 34 pochards, 2 moorhen, 3 coots, 5 mallard, 3 GC grebe, 1 little grebe, 3 heron, 1 snipe,
2 buzzards soring, 1 sparrowhawk and 1 goshawk flyovers
Fieldfare, redwings and starlings in the trees across the hide
Longtailed, blue, great, marsh and coal tits on the feeders – as well as a great spotted, stock dove bellow feeders today, tree creepers in the carpark too
