Sunday 17 November 2013

Amwell

Things are slowly getting back to normal now.
Popped out for a couple of hours this morning and went to Amwell. The weather was a bit grotty-drizzle on the way and murky all morning, plus it was a bit colder than my last visit. The water levels are about as high as they get although the new  excavations in front of the viewpoint provided a lot of muddy edges.
Jay Tony Trevor and Phil were present when I arrived, and Colin and Richard Pole arrived much later. Surprised to discover that Jay did not go to Wales for the Orphean Warbler-but he did manage to get to last years one. Barry and Bill had gone for insurance purposes.
Reasonable duck numbers as expected, with my first Goldeneye of the winter. Snipe were around but hard to see, and Lapwing numbers a bit low. The usual selection of gulls with a nice 3w Yellow Legged showing well.
Phil has put some feeders up, viewable from the now closed Hollycross gate and this has been pulling in Marsh and Coal Tit. Despite a half hour wait they failed to appear for me though a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the fat was nice to see. Tit flocks all over the place, I missed a couple of Treecreepers in one of them, but I did encounter a large number of Goldcrests.
Despite the lateness, the autumn colour is still a bit hit and miss with many trees still remaining green, and one of the Hazels had catkins.



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