Brent Res Jan 30th
A freezing cold day with an overnight dusting of snow - not what I was expecting! At least it was bright & sunny. As I was scanning through the ducks from the hide, Andrew Verrall arrived to say he'd just seen a Tawny Owl roosting in East Marsh. We went out together and he showed me the bird, it was sitting right out in the open in the sunshine, a lovely bird and a nice addition to my patchlist. There were up to 2 birds sitting in the same area last year so it was good to know they're still around.
Very little else seen though, a flyover Jackdaw and a handful of Fieldfares & Redwings.
Norfolk Jan 22-25
A weekend away from Brent Res, my first this year. I don't normally fret about what might turn up when I'm away if I'm going somewhere else where the birding is better. And you can't get much better than Norfolk. On a wet Friday we started at Santon Warren on the promise of 200 Bramblings. We could only manage 5-6 but it'll do and we carried on to Lynford Arboretum. Almost the first birds we saw there were a small flock of Crossbills feeding in the Larches and then a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - excellent, first one I've seen there. We went down to the Paddock but it was devoid of Hawfinches but a flock of Siskin flew over and we heard Marsh Tit. It was on to Welney next, stopping enroute to see a flock of Bewick's Swans. After lunch and se…
Westminster Jan 21st
A nice sunny day for a change as I walked around St James's Park. And it was clearly enough to get quite a few birds singing and it wasn't long before I heard my target bird - Coal Tit, the last resident passerine that I needed for the year. I was half hoping for a raptor to fly over as well but that didn't happen so it'll have to be another day...
Brent Res Jan 19th
Another quick visit before work so wasn't expecting much. From the hide I was counting/scanning the Snipe and the next thing I knew a drake Mandarin was in view! Excellent, they're barely annual here although I've seen them maybe 8-10 times. Which is more than can be said for Leo who still hasn't seen one after more than 50 years birding at Brent! I wonder if he'll trade me both partridges for this morning's sighting?
Westminster Jan 17th
A lunchtime walk around St James's Park. I was surprised to see so much ice on the lake stil after the mild weekend. The gulls seem to like at ias they were plenty standing around on it including a colour-ringed Herring Gull. I've got the number so I'll try and trace it. There was also a LBB Gull which was new for the year along Shoveler and Great Spotted Woodpecker so 3 additions for the patchlist comp was very productive. Still no raptors though!