It seems winter has arrived so a few hours out on the patch this afternoon seemed in order since more than a few winter birds are still missing from my list, due to the mild weather. Hopefully things will change in the coming days as the weather around the country moves a few birds around. Just as I was about to leave the house I had a text from Andy Davidson to say that 12 Golden Plover were near Kingsley and within my patch. There is usually a local wintering flock but I had yet to catch up with them and so I made these my first stop. 12 Golden Plover (later 30) with a few Lapwings, nice.
The northern
pits at Kingsley were quite frozen but I was pleased to find a good count of 39
Gadwall keeping a small area ice free in the company of 5 Mallard, 3 Lt Grebe,
3 Coot, 1 Teal and best of all a Wigeon probably the same female that was
around at the end of last year, where has she been! The big south pit was ice
free?! and attracting a lots of BH Gulls (180+) and a Common Gull to bath, the
expected waterfowl were present but 15 Mandarin is more than usual on this pit.
It started snowing around 16:15 so visibility was poor but I tried a few places
for Barn Owl all the same, with no success, good views of Little Owl and a
Tawny sat on the hedge was nice though.
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