At the start of the week there were mutterings that Spring was slowly starting to arrive, with snowdrops popping through, catkins appearing and birds stretching their vocal chords. However, as most will have noticed, the cold weather returned midweek with the first real snowfall of the winter for the area. This produced the aptly named Snow Bunting on the 29th flying along the beach and landing somewhere on the reserve and not relocated.
Being on the coast we didn’t get as much snow lying on our land but the deeper snow just inland has pushed 100’s of birds down to the coast. There was a noticeable increase in Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Redwing and Fieldfare feeding in almost snow free fields and also flying west along the coastline. A morning winter passerine survey on the 30th produced 405 Skylark (300 more than a week ago), 80 Reed Buntings, 100 Linnet, 20 Yellowhammer, and 150 Meadow Pipit.
Flock of Twite with single Linnet and Goldfinch (Photo Credit: Gavin Chambers)
Other sightings have included the elusive Otter along Rainbow Lane, ringtail Hen Harrier over reedbed, Peregrine causing mayhem, Twite feeding along strandline and a couple of Mistle Thrush in fields along main track.
Brief glimpses of a Water Rail caught on a camera trap at Mersehead.