Gary Howard's birds and wildlife

24 th December  '09

Bough Beech Reservoir

A brief stop in the grey late afternoon gloom.

The north lake was iced over and the main body of water whilst ice-free was largely devoid of birds. It was misty and dull but a search with a scope revealed few birds and little of note.

I called in on the orchard and watched the feeders for a while but again little of note.

Far from a memorable visit!

25th - 26th at home

The garden was well baited though it was the berry bushes that were of most interest attracting up to 10 Redwing. Nuthatches are still present and on Christmas Day I saw male Blackcap, my first this winter, and both Green and Great-spotted Woodpeckers. 

On the afternoon of the 27th a Siskin was present.

27th December

Five Arches, Footscray Meadows

I took Alexander and Edward out to Footscray for a couple of hours for some fresh air before we got hit with another round of relatives and food!

There was still a bit of snow on the ground but it was around 5C and quite pleasant.

I saw Water Rail, Grey Wagtail, 7 Little Grebes and most notably 1 drake and 3 female Shoveler.

28th December

Burton Mill Pond, Sussex

We met up with our friends near Petworth in Sussex and set off on a walk around Burton Mill Pond in beautiful weather.

We had a good romp around the eastern side alongside the pond and into woodland and farmland.

On the pond we had 2 Kingfishers and a few ducks but no bittern. In the woods we had Bullfinch, Siskin and Marsh Tit.

29th December

Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve 

We'd planned to go for a long walk today but the weather was simply foul. We drove to Westerham to start the walk but it was pouring down so we headed into Sevenoaks and the wildfowl reserve where we spent a couple of hours dodging the rain going from hide to hide.

Of note were at least 31 Snipe, 40+ Teal and a redhead Goosander.  Passerines were in short-supply and many areas of water were frozen.