“Sunday saw a bright, clear morning at Greylake. Almost immediately on entering the hide my eye was caught by 2 brilliant ‘white shapes’ on the far side of the flooded fields – 2 peregrines at rest on the ground, bathed in sunlight! At one point, we were lucky enough to have four peregrines in view at the same time!
Luckily, despite the hard frost, a stretch of water had remained unfrozen allowing the teal and widgeon to keep feeding. As the morning wore on, the ice gradually receded and more of these beautiful winter visitors arrived, along with two dunlin.
In front of the hide there were up to 15 snipe – on first glance you may see 1 or 2 of these fiendishly camouflaged waders yet with a little bit of patience more and more will appear before your eyes.
There was a real ‘buzz’ in the hide with visitors sharing tips and sightings, those with ‘scopes offering others views of the peregrines. It was great to witness the united pleasure visitors got from the sightings we had , especially those new to birdwatching and those discovering for the first time, how fantastic Greylake is for close up views of overwintering waders and wildfowl.
p.s On Friday morning myself and 3 visitors were treated to cracking views of a female merlin as she moved from one vantage point to another and in the fields near the car park a stoat was in the open near an old willow stump.“
We have a "Birdwatching for Beginners" event planned for the 13th of Feb - for details please follow the link:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-263548
(Nick Edge)