Pintail on the up

28th January - a lunchtime visit was greeted with much the same variety as yesterday.  The 3 regular drake Pintail were asleep amongst a flock of Wigeon near to the island - these are generally split into 2 birds and a single, the single having a nice long tail feather, the other 2 birds don't seem to have developed theirs - maybe 1st year birds?

A 1st Winter GBB Gull caught my eye as it descended to the near spit, as it had a black darvic ring on its left leg, with a metal BTO type on the right.  I haven't seen a ring on this species before, so was keen to read it, but unfortunately it hopped off its perch out of the water into the lake and then flew to the back of the spit where reading was impossible.  The brief view I got suggested yellow letters on a black ring, though these could have been dirty white and the first letter looked like a J.  I hope it returns to be read properly.

I decided to take a walk to the SE corner to view the NE side hidden from the west bank.  A very muddy walk and hard going, however, worth it, as a further pair of Pintail were roosting there - a male with a long tail feather and a female, so 5 birds in all.  A Little Egret was also roosting in a bush near the NE bay.

A sizeable flock of Fieldfare, about 110 birds flew north chattering, alerting me to their presence and a single sweep of the Snipe on the spit came to 90 birds - I'm sure more were hidden.  They are back on the spit at the moment, as the muddy flood meadows where they were feeding in large numbers has become re-flooded following the thaw.

I dropped in at the nearby Roach pit on the way home to take a look at the long staying juv female Scaup - she is looking more adult like by the day, now having a broad white face patch above the bill and some grey vermiculations on her back and flanks.

Where's the pot of gold?

27th January - another gull roost visit.  A 1st winter Caspian Gull appeared about 4:45pm.  I think based on size and the pattern in the lower scaps it is probably yesterday's bird.  I managed a blurred record in fading light - hopefully better to come!

32 Great Blacked-backed Gulls was a reasonable count, but again, no white-wingers!  A Little Egret came in to roost again, a Green Sand was on the spit and 2 drake Pintail were off the end of the spit before flying to the flood meadows.

Just after I arrived, a mini squall blew across creating a lovely double rainbow.

Gull Roost

26th January - I ventured down for the gull roost this afternoon.  The 3 drake Pintail remain.  There were good numbers of LWHG to look through, but only small numbers of BHG/Commons, which had maybe already departed to another roost site.  No hoped for white-wingers tonight, but a nice 1st winter Caspian Gull.  This is the same bird as seen last week, but not the previously regular large male.  It is a smaller bird and has very obvious regular largish dark diamond marks on the scaps.  It never comes in close when the light is reasonable for a photo, so I still haven't got a record of it yet, but if it stays regular, hopefully I will soon.

A Little Egret appeared in the island willow late on and a Green Sand called when it was too dark to see it.

Timber Doodles

25th January - still cold, but much more open water than my last visit on Tuesday.  I made a morning visit today.  The 3 drake Pintail were still happily up-ending on the nearside of the base of the spit and good numbers of dabblers are still present, but still very few diving duck.

I decided to do a circuit to try and get some of the commoner species I was missing so far this year.  In the small reed bed by the picnic bench on the NW side a Water Rail showed pretty well, clambering through the sparse reed stems and eventually swimming to further cover.  Best of all though, on the northern side of the lake, I came across not 1 but 2 Woodcock.  Unfortunately, I didn't see them on the ground, as they both flushed, but they both only flew short distances to further cover so hopefully weren't too put out by the experience.  Woodcock are reported here occasionally during the Winter and are probably present more often than seen, but this was a patch tick for me, so very pleased.  A Treecreeper was a further year tick.

As I walked back to the car, a Nuthatch flew over and I watched it descend towards the lakeside cottages.  A quick walk to view the garden feeders found it feeding on the nut feeder - I struggle with this species here and only saw 1 bird last year, so another pleasing year tick.

Frozen Over!

22nd January - well it must have been cold last night as the pit went from largely open water yesterday to almost totally frozen over today.  The wildfowl had kept a small area around the main island free, but that was about it.

A morning visit hoping for a cold weather movement of something interesting, but to no avail.  The 3 drake Pintail were still present but roosting and actually quite hard to pick out from the throng, though later in the afternoon they were all swimming and feeding together, which was much better.  A bizarre occurrence, when an over flying Skylark descended and landed on the ice in the middle of the pit and called down a second bird, before they realised their mistake and flew off west.  The muddy flood meadows are largely unfrozen and this morning the Snipe were probing away in large numbers.  I counted 84 birds and there could well have been others hidden in the longer grass.  Quite an amazing sight really, especially when you consider that last year we were lucky to get a handful during this period.  A further 4 on the spit made today's count 88 birds - a little down on the weekend.  Unfortunately, they had failed to attract any other wader species in.

I also made a quick visit pre school pick-up to see whether any large gulls had come in to pre-roost.  There were quite a few, mostly standing about on the ice, but at 2:45pm a smart looking 1st winter Caspian Gull appeared.  It found a small pocket of water to bathe in, which was my photo opportunity, but it got flushed by a low flying Red Kite and flew to the back of the pit to preen - here it remained.  It was not the regular 1st winter male, which is a very large bird, but a smaller and daintier looking bird.  It might be the second bird seen a couple of weeks ago in the roost, but without photos, it's difficult to be sure.

A fly over Rook was another patch year tick - I really must try and clear up on some of the commoner birds I still need!

Snow brings in Pintail

21st January - having spent the weekend sledging and building snowmen, I took the opportunity on my lunch break today to catch up with the 3 drake Pintail that Kim D had discovered the previous morning.  Luckily, they were still on site, 2 drakes keeping close company and feeding along the nearside of the spit, the third asleep amongst wigeon in front of the island.  A scarce bird here, with just 1 or 2 records per year, so nice to get on the list.  Snipe numbers are still impressively high, with birds visible on the spit, feeding on the muddy flood meadows and flying between the two.  I didn't attempt a count today, but numbers in excess of 100 birds have been recorded in recent days - today's number was in that vicinity.

Bad Weather Dunlin

14th January - there had been several reports of Brent Geese at various localities in the morning, so on my lunch break, I checked the pit quickly.  No Brents, but as is often the case in inclement weather a couple of Dunlin had appeared on the spit.  Also of note were 55 Snipe - these birds were grouped together on 2 or 3 of the small islands that is slowly returning to a solid spit and there may well have been 1 or 2 more hidden on the far sides.

The snow began falling quite heavily, so it became difficult to see too much, but a Dabchick on the far side beyond the spit and a calling Chiffchaff near the railway were both new birds for the year, as was a Grey Wagtail flying over the car park.