Bedfordshire Today.....

In addition to the first-winter PENDULINE TIT at 100 Acre Pit, Meadow Lane, today, I also saw 2 COMMON STONECHATS, 4 Common Snipe and 124 Barnacle Geese there, with a further 325 of the latter in the Willington area.

Lots and lots of Fieldfare and Redwing in the county, with numerous Golden Plover in the Hatch and Broom areas and 7 TREE SPARROWS still in Upper Caldecote. An Oystercatcher was the highlight of a frozen Broom GP, with Stewartby Lake affording good views of COMMON SCOTER (drake), Common Kingfisher and both Common and SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF. No less than 19 Chinese Water Deer were at Husborne Crawley.

Wilstone's adult Ross's Snow Goose was at Grovebury at dusk, in with Canada Geese, as well as an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Today's Images

At last - PENDULINE TIT finally gripped back and etched on my BEDFORDSHIRE LIST......

Thanks to the remarkable finding by Samuel & Ephraim Perfect of a PENDULINE TIT yesterday afternoon at 100 Acre Pit, Meadow Lane, to the east of Bedford, I finally caught up with this species today - my 266th species for Bedfordshire (and placing me in Joint 2nd position with Dave Odell behind the leader Dave Ball - one species ahead). The bird was showing very well feeding voraciously on Reedmace in the southwesternmost part of the pit and despite flying off high on the odd occasion, spent most of the day there and in constant view. Often uttering its high-pitched 'seeee' call-note, the bird could fairly easily be found pecking at the bulrush heads and with its plain underparts and restricted facial mask was most likely a first-winter, perhaps a male with its rufous-washed scapulars and shoulders. There have been just two previous records in the county - a bird at Priory Country Park for two days in October 1991 and two together at Marston Vale Millenium Park in November 2011.