It seems that things have now settled down into normal winter patterns on the birding front with the winter Thrushes, Siskin and Redpolls all recorded at my regular site visits. Brambling and Golden Plover are still thin on the ground locally and with a reasonable number of Short-eared Owls around the country a regular local one would be nice.
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| Wintering Blackcap |
The Tawny Owls have been very vocal at the marina of late, one bird so close that it had Dee and I convinced it was sitting on the boat roof. With moorers once again able to place feeders around the moorings we're starting to get regular visits from Tree Sparrows once again. A species that seemed to desert us for a short while during recent months. One bird of note residing at the marina presently is a wintering Blackcap, my only sighting thus far since the summer.
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| Nuthatch - New Hare Covert |
What has been rare this autumn is those wonderful crisp frosty mornings and so with the forecast for Wednesday morning predicting such a start I was at Brandon Marsh before sunrise for a look around. A Barn Owl quartering Sheep-Field and a nice count of nine Pheasant on the recently extracted bramble area as I made my way through to New Hare Covert. Redpoll and Siskin overhead, along with Great Spotted Woodpecker and both Redwing and Fieldfare. The covert held four Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker along with Treecreeper and Nuthatch.
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| Robin numbers increasing |
The pools had the usual winter wildfowl and eight Snipe but no sign of the recent Goldeneye. A lone Little Egret, which spent most of Tuesday perched and overseeing the conservation work we were carrying out on East Marsh Pool, was still on site. Other highlights around the reserve included a couple of Grey Wagtail on Willow Island, Cetti's Warbler and Water Rail calling, plus two wintering Chiffchaffs were also noted. There's also been a considerable increase in the Robin population recently with local birds being joined by those from the continent. Otters have been regular visitors this week with a number of reports from other team members but unfortunately not for me. At least three pair of Bullfinch during my tour and a half dozen Skylark flew south as I walked up to the farm area, where I also startled a Fox which bolted across the reedbed. The farm is actually up for sale and this would explain the major clear up operation that has taken place up there. Nearly all of the old rusting farm equipment and old cars have been removed and sadly a small section of Elder has been decapitated in the process, usually a good feeding area for Finches.
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| Brandon Team at work |
