After a report of a Barn Owl sunning itself on one of the boxes on Farm Field I've tried a couple of early visits to Brandon Marsh to see if I could connect but to no avail. The last sighting of a Barn Owl at Brandon to my knowledge was way back in June 2015 after the population crash, so a sighting would be most welcome!
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Brace of Snipe in the dull conditions at East Marsh Hide! |
Not a bad visit this morning with the highlights on the pools: (2)
Little Egret on Teal Pool, (3)
Goosander, a male and two female on East Marsh Pool, along with (2)
Great Crested Grebe , (4)
Shelduck, all male and a brilliant count of (23)
Pochard, which included four males. A couple of
Water Rail were feeding for a long period in the channel and (2)
Snipe were also showing well right in front of the East Marsh Hide. At one point a
Cetti's Warbler flew from left to right across the gap. Over on Wigeon Bank a female
Muntjac Deer passed through, shortly followed by a male. As we passed by the Carlton Ditch a
Peregrine was on the hunt overhead and finally a sighting of
Willow Tit, having only heard one last week!
Lesser Redpoll and
Siskin also recorded during the visit and a nice surprise was a
Marsh Tit at the Café, which kept coming down for brief visits to the feeders while we were having coffee!
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Brambling just above my feeders! |
At the marina on Saturday morning while sitting watching my feeders I managed to snap the back end of a
Brambling from the window but no sign since!