SUNDAY 5 JANUARY
Well the rain eventually ceased on Saturday
evening but then the skies cleared and the temperatures plunged resulting in
quite a hard frost and some extremely dangerous driving conditions very first
thing. It remained dry until mid afternoon, the clear skies of the morning
giving way to increasing cloud arriving from the west. The wind freshened up
from the south, the temperature recovering to around 8 degrees C by
dark.
A colourful rising at dawn
Hearing that a juvenile SABINE'S GULL had
roosted overnight at WESTON TURVILLE RESERVOIR (BUCKS), David Bilcock, Ian
Williams and I were on site just as daylight was breaking. The bird was still
roosting close to the reeds on the north-eastern shore but as the first glimmers
of daylight started breaking through above the Wendover escarpment, the bird
suddenly took flight and flew purposefully southwestwards and away. I 'scoped it
until lost from view behind the trees at 0732 hours. This is an exceptional
winter record and follows a juvenile in the Thames off Shoeburyness on New Years
Day (Steve Arlow) - certainly the first I have ever seen in winter in the UK.
Although initially seen by Mike Campbell as a Little Gull earlier in the day
yesterday, its true identity was not revealed until dark when Mike & Ted
Wallen identified it whilst waiting for the Bitterns to roost.
A total of 20 LITTLE EGRETS departed the
roost by 0740 hours.
At nearby WILSTONE RESERVOIR (TRING)
(HERTS), DB and I enjoyed good views of the WATER PIPIT in Cemetery Corner
before it flew NW along the bank. I then flushed it from the weedy field next to
Wilstone Little Farm and it returned to the NE corner for a few minutes before
flying again. Once again, it was accompanied everywhere by a single Meadow
Pipit. A Grey Wagtail was in the same vicinity and a male Song Thrush was
singing loudly from the East Bank 'Wood', with 80 Fieldfare in fields to the
north of the reservoir.
Otherwise, everything the same - LITTLE
STINT, BLACK-TAILED GODWIT, 2 COMMON REDSHANK, 268 European Golden Plover, 700+
Lapwing and a female Common Goldeneye - a selection of Sally Douglas' images
from today's BBC field outing follow.
Golden Plovers
The Little Stint
...and the long-staying Black-tailed Godwit
I then moved on to IVINGHOE BEECHES (BUCKS)
where the 55 Chaffinch and 30 BRAMBLING were still feeding beneath the Beech
trees south of the main car park; 4 Bullfinches also in Top Scrub.
Chaffinches feeding beneath the Beeches
No sign of the resident pair of Common
Ravens at DAGNALL (BEDS) but 115 Rook, 220 Jackdaw, Green Woodpecker, 1
Fieldfare, 1 Redwing and Jay noted.
TOTTERNHOE'S WELLHEAD ROAD (BEDS) was very
productive with 6 CORN BUNTINGS and 17 YELLOWHAMMERS sharing a field edge, and 2
Eurasian Skylarks. No such luck at STOCKGROVE COUNTRY PARK however - not a
Mandarin Duck in sight. I took some dried mealworms down and spent a while
photographing Grey Squirrels, Common Blackbirds, Nuthatches, Robins and Coal,
Great and Blue Tits (see selection below); 4 Goldcrests were in the tall
firs.
Corn Buntings...
....and Yellowhammers in fields along Wellhead Lane
....and at Stockgrove, both female and male Common Blackbird..
Coal Tit
Nuthatches
acrobatic Grey Squirrels
...and Great Tits
Had a good look around WOBURN PARK where the
SHOULDER OF MUTTON and ABBEY PONDS yielded Little Grebe, 10 Mute Swan (4
first-years), 11 Greylag Geese, 16 Mallard, at least 137 Eurasian Wigeon (a high
count for this site), 12 Gadwall, 17 Tufted Duck, 31 Northern Pochard and 112
Coot, pride of place going to 11 beautiful GOOSANDER (including 4 dapper
drakes). Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Nuthatch, Coal Tit and Robin were also
encountered.
Goosanders
A grazing flock of over 100 Eurasian Wigeon
...and Rooks making the most of the damp ground
At the LOWER DRAKELOE POND, 2 Great Crested
Grebe, 6 Mute Swan (2 first-years), 2 adult Australian Black Swan, 42 Gadwall, 8
Wigeon, 32 Tufted Duck, 12 Northern Pochard and 27 Coot were counted, whilst
EVERSHOLT LAKE at the southern extremity of the Park harboured 7 of the same
GOOSANDER, 15 Mallard, an additional 8 Wigeon (my first-ever at this site) and 3
Moorhen. A Red Kite was overhead, whilst the Alders produced a flock of 85
SISKIN, 13 Goldfinch, 18 Fieldfare, 6 Redwing and 3 Blue Tits.
The resident pair of Black Swans
Just west of RIDGMONT, 8 Chinese Water Deer
were in cereal fields (see below)
Returning to BROGBOROUGH LAKE from last
night, better views were obtained of the juvenile COMMON SCOTER - the slight
yellow in the bill indicating it is a drake (very poor record shot below).
GOLDENEYE now numbered 41, Tufted Duck just 116 and Coot just 152, whilst 9
Great Crested Grebe, 4 Little Grebe, 8 Redwing and a nice COMMON KINGFISHER
finished off the tally.
Very distant record shots of the Common Scoter
and parts of the 41-strong Goldeneye
Thanks to Neil Wright, took me a matter of
minutes to locate the wintering Chiffchaffs at MARSTON SEWAGE WORKS - a
total of 5 individuals being seen with Long-tailed Tits in the vicinity of the
brick building just inside the complex perimeter fence. The birds were flicking
about in the bramble scrub the lake side of the fence and were showing well,
despite the deterioating weather conditions. Two birds were quite vocal and
showed all of the hallmarks of abietinus-types (what I consider
SCANDINAVIAN birds) whilst two were typical dark colybitta. Standout
bird was a really nice buff/tan-coloured tristis (SIBERIAN) -
black-billed, black-legged with a hint of a wingbar and some greenish remiges in
the tail. It uttered a very solemn single note on one occasion and was a typical
individual on plumage. I didn't look for the GREAT NORTHERN DIVER but other
observers had seen it.
Driving through MOGGERHANGER, 2 Red Kites
were seen, with 8 Collared Doves together in UPPER CALDECOTE. To the north of
GYPSY LANE EAST at BROOM, I was pleased to see two coveys of GREY PARTRIDGE (an
8 and a 7) and 5 Red-legged Partridges.
From thenon it all went downhill - the
weather and the birding: no sign of the male Merlin at Broom, no sign of Jim
Gurney's Stonechat on Biggleswade Common, no sign of any Little Owls at four
separate sites and no sign of any Barn Owls at dusk. Hay-ho!
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