Winter Stroll December 2010

This was our last event of the year and to be honest it had been in doubt until Saturday. During the previous two weeks the paths around the reserve had been too icy to even contemplate an event such as this but a gradual thaw meant we had the green light to GO!

What an occasion this was - the weather was typical of this time of the year, blue sky, cool temperature but terrific visibility. We gathered in the SPA to be welcomed by Lee and I, the 25 visitors eagerly listened to what we intended to do but nothing could have prepared us for the next 90 minutes.

Let's start with a list of birds seen along the way;- great tit, blue tit, coal tit, blackbird, sparrow & wren - mundane you may say, but we'd not left the SPA yet! Moving on to the reserve we saw robins, gadwall, mallard, Canada geese, a swan flew directly overhead (squeaking) and a deeply iced over lake.

Continuing along towards Forge Mill Farm we stopped at the causeway to watch a young family feed the waterfowl:- more Canada geese, goosanders, coots, pochard, golden eye, shovelers, tufted ducks, the hybrid thing, all these swimming in a hole in the ice no more than half a football pitch in size.

Walking away from the bridge we saw magpies, grey herons, a wigeon grazing on the opposite bank, a grey wagtail and whilst we looked for the feasting fieldfare, we spotted a redwing not two metres away from it. A buzzard came close us but was mobbed by a couple of crows so veered off over the farm. (Apparently we only missed a passing peregrine by a couple of minutes.) We also noticed an enormous rat swimming in the river, brave thing!

So far, so good. Lee and I were quietly relieved at the number of species we'd spotted because we thought the chilly weather would keep numbers down. We arrived at the hide and our attending volunteers had found the only visible snipe on the island! Another bird for the list. Time to head off back towards the SPA, on the way up the path a green woodpecker flew past followed shortly afterwards by a jay and a group of long tailed tits. Stopping briefly at the old visitor centre to look across the marsh pool, we glanced towards the feeding table and we were surprised to see a female pheasant ground feeding underneath and to cap it all, the table was visited by both a male & female bullfinch! Bingo! All our star species in one walk.

We happily made our way back to the warmth of the SPA where everyone enjoyed festive refreshments of mince pies and warm mulled berry punch.

A grand day out if ever there was!