It's not often I go this long without posting to my blog, so I thought I'd better get a final one in before Christmas. To be honest there hasn't been much to blog about, in fact you can always tell when things on the birding front are a little quiet when fellow bloggers begin to reminisce about better times!
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| Sunrise at Brandon -Winter Solstice |
For me my cup is always half full and if you look hard enough and happen to be in the right place at the right time you'll find things, like a sneaky Stoat at Brandon Marsh on Thursday and an amazing Merlin encounter for Dee and I at the back of Sainsbury's on Saturday morning. I suppose I should clarify why Dee and I were at the back of Sainsbury's. For those who know 'The Shires' retail park in Leamington Spa there is a pathway that leads to the Tachbrook Park office complex to the rear of Sainsbury's. The landscaping in this area consists of lots of rowan, hawthorn and pine trees and to our amazement while walking through from Dee's office we unexpectedly encountered a Merlin, which fizzed past us only feet away before crashing into a small flock of feeding Long-tailed Tits, disappearing into the distance empty handed!
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| Lots of Fieldfare around the Marina |
On the local front the marina still has an adequate supply of blackthorn berries and so we've been blessed by some large flocks of winter thrushes making the most of what's left. At least two Barn Owls have been busy and can be found quartering the adjacent fields on most evenings and with the same fields holding plenty of water, Lapwings and decent numbers of Skylarks can also be found. Tawny Owls have been very vocal of late and I've even managed to locate one of the their favourite calling spots, but sadly our tiny population of Little Owls are nowhere to be found these days. This too could be said of our Tree Sparrows, despite the odd sighting around the feeders numbers are really down on previous years.
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| One of a couple of Little Egret at Brandon Marsh |
Brandon Marsh has also kept me busy on the chain saw with a number of coppicing and other projects on the go, plus a replanting of some small areas of Horsetail Glade will be discussed at our next meeting. The birding has been somewhat poor with wildfowl numbers frighteningly low but things were brightened recently by the arrival of a wintering Bittern. Amazingly you could set your clock by this bird at present! Simply stand near the 'Olive Bench' overlooking Newlands reedbed between 7 and 7:15am and observe the silhouetted figure as it flies across the path, normally settling on Swallow Pool, quite surreal. Apart from the Bittern Sundays winter solstice visit produced three Tawny Owls, a couple of Little Egret on East Marsh Pool and at least a single wintering Chiffchaff can regularly be heard around the River Pool area.
With another year ending all that remains is to wish my reader a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous birding New Year.
