Doomed to be eaten by Invisible Snipes...

 

Finally, everything fell into place. It was my day off, my alarm went off and the weather was spot on. To the patch! In past blog posts I'd sometimes do a timed account and so given that's how I recorded stuff today in my notebook, I thought I'd dust off the habit.

7:05 Keeping my eyes peeled for owls as I drive past Big Hand Ranch to park up for the walk to the Eastern Reedbed. No owls.

7:07 Park up by the warehouses in the dark, open the car door and... predictably, thrushes; Robin, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush all singing away.

7:20 Add calling Coot, Mallard and Gadwall from Birchwood Pool. Carrion Crow somewhere too, then 150 Jackdaw heading east. Colours just starting to appear. Add Teal calling from Pumphouse Pool. Nothing yet visible on the water... Further along pick up Canada Geese in the distance and Raven calling overhead behind me...

7:30 Eastern Reedbed - 2 Mallard (pair), 2 Coot, 1 Gadwall calling, 5 Tufted Duck (incl. 2pairs), Grey Heron (ad), Reed Bunting and Cetti's Warbler singing. No Bittern. No Water Rail still.

7:35 Mill Brook Pool - 2 Mute Swan (pair), 2 Mallard (incl. 1pair), Tufted Duck (f).

7:54 Yesterday, thoughts of Goosander surfaced and so I decided to check the river. Just 3 Mallard today...

7:58 Firecrest Alley - 2 Jay, 2 Bullfinch (pair), Pheasant

8:00 Black Field Pools - Now these used to be just steep-sided big dug out scoops of black mud, but now look like they could turn out to be a bit of an off-piste wader scrape at the right time of year... I decided to label them BFP East and BFP West, although in truth they're one big pool with a narrow southerly neck...

BFP East - 11 Teal, Grey Heron (ad), Cetti's Warbler

BFP West - 2 Mallard (pair), 2 Tufted Duck (f), 2 Canada Goose (pair), 2 Lapwing (pair), 2 Grey Heron (ads)

8:19 Pumphouse Pool (east hide) - 26 Gadwall (13 pairs), 6 Mallard (3pairs), 14 Tufted Duck (loose flock), 3 Shoveler (2m,1f), 7 Teal (incl. 2 pairs), 15 Coot, 2 Oystercatcher (pair), 36 Black-headed Gull.

8:39 Birchwood and en route - 3 Siskin, 12 Redwing

8:45 Birchwood Pool (east hide) - 5 Canada Goose, 1 Cormorant, 2 Coot, 1 Great Crested Grebe

8:53 Birchwood Pool (west hide) - 8 Tufted Duck (4pairs), 2 Moorhen, 2 Coot, 2 Canada Goose, 4 Mallard (2pairs), 2 Little Grebe (pair), 1 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Black-headed Gull... and a nice surprise... 2 pairs of Goldeneye displaying.

9:01 Feeding Station - the usual Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Nuthatch... but no sight or sound of a single woodpecker... anywhere on the reserve today. Nada. BUT, did add Coal Tit to the year list. Checked all ivy covered trees en route, for roosting Tawny Owl, nothing. No sign either of yesterday's reported Willow Tit. Met 4 birders, said LSW had been seen in the triangle before Xmas, but not heard owt since...

9:15 Lapwing Lake - 4 Little Grebe (2pairs), 1 Moorhen, 13 Mallard, 7 Coot, 5 Tufted Duck, 11 Canada Goose, 10 Wigeon, 1 Cormorant.

9:35 Snipe Fields - Can't believe how overgrown these have become. Really struggled to find a way in to check the margins, ditches and thickets for Snipe and Woodcock as of old. Now however, nothing. SO, thick and tussocky... didn't flush a single bird of any kind... was dead. What was even worse, was that I somehow managed to lose my glasses there... never to be seen again... doomed to be eaten by invisible snipes...

9:50 Better luck on the fields between the farm and white cottage however - 21 Curlew, 2 Grey Partridge and male Yellowhammer.

10:00 Bob's Bridge - 15 Pink-footed Goose over flying west

By this time the weather was closing in and so I abandoned a hike to Halfway House in favour of a more sheltered woodland path back to Lapwing Lane, stopping along the way to check the south side of the Snipe Fields for wintering Stonechat - no joy. 

The whole place is terribly overgrown and the Forestry Commission should indeed HIDE!

 

Stonechat are about apparently... one was reported yesterday from the Capped Tip along with another Cetti's. Nice to hear. Seems Cetti's now have a good foothold on the reserve as there's usually one or two along the way to HWH too. Think I'll do a survey this year.

Finished off with a quick scan of the Horse Fields for stray Fieldfare, which I've still yet to get... alas, no joy but did get a couple of Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Stock Dove. Finally it was time to check the Angler's Pool for the redhead Smew reported there before Xmas. Now, you used to be able to just park up in the muddy lay-by opposite Big Hand Ranch and cut through to the path to scan the pool. Not anymore - the angler's have gotten all possessive and barb-wired the hell out of the place to stop anyone so much as daring to take a stroll around their bloody pool. Ah well, quick scope through the trees did the job... no Smew, just 7 Tufted Duck, 6 Coot and 3 Little Grebe... at least as far as I could see from the rather restricted vantage point that us birdy types are left with. Come on guys... where's the harm in walking around your goddam pond - seriously?

So, species tally today (including various usuals not mentioned above) was 49. Not too bad and added 12 more year ticks; Grey Partridge, Lapwing, Curlew, Stock Dove, Coal Tit, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Cetti's Warbler, Siskin, Pink-footed Goose, Jackdaw and Goldeneye. So that puts the year list at a paltry 56 - work to do!!!