The bright clear skies tempted me out this morning, so I donned my woolly hat and gloves and took a wander around the wetland trail.
As I left the visitor centre, I bumped into Pete. We chatted away whilst a pair of stonechats bobbed up and down in the field and a mistle thrush flew across. There was a lot of duck movement down on the South Brooks and a quick scan revealed the source of the panic - a speedy peregrine - who pursued several different groups of ducks and lapwings without success. Pete's early start had rewarded him with views of 3 Bewick's swans - the first this winter. Sadly they had taken off and flown southwards by the time I reached West Mead hide, but well worth keeping a look out for them over the coming weeks.
As I wandered down the zig zags I heard the soft 'peu, peu' call of the bullfinch and then briefly spotted a flash of pink, before a white bottom disappeared into the blackthorn. Fieldfare were dotted all around the trail - although not in big flocks this morning. Down in West Mead hide, 4 snipe were playing hiding & seek in the rushes on the near edge of the pool and there was a great range of Puilborough's winter ducks; wigeon, teal, pintail and shoveler looking rather splendid in the winter sunshine.
Snipe by Mick Davis.
From Winpenny we scanned for the marsh harrier and short-eared owls that have been putting in daily appearances - no luck for me this morning - although a nice pale-fronted buzzrd perched atop a fence post and a sparrowhawk flew overhead. Later on, a barn owl was reported from the hide, hunting across the river bank.
Along adder alley, more winter thrushes and many blackbirds (we must have had an influx of continental birds with this cold snap) and 3 tiny goldcrests hopped around the bushes.
On to the North Brooks and a good scan from Hanger View. The ducks and waders were clearly rather twitchy and kept fidgeting...there on the ground nearby was another peregrine. It didn't look like she was in the mood for hunting but perhaps an earlier fly by had alarmed all the other residents. Amongst the thousands of Canada geese were many graylag geese and scores of wigeon, teal, pintail and shoveler. We reached just short of 100 black-tailed godwits - tricky to count as they kept jostling about or taking to the skies.
Feeling rather guilty for being out and about enjoying myself, I returned to the visitor centre. In my absence, the Dartford warbler had been spotted!
Altogether a lovely wintery collection of wildlife.