White Fronted Goose Stevenage

 Bit of a drag at work this week with only a few people in, and basically tidying up loose ends. So I was browsing social media as one does to while away the time and nearly fell off my chair when I saw a photo of a juvenile Russian Greater White Fronted Goose half a mile away in the town centre park. There has been a bit of an influx inland at some odd locations recently, but I wasn't expecting one in the middle of town.

I had a bit of frustrating wait until knocking off time and was wondering how to get there as parking and traffic in the area isnt good, but luckily I got a message from Tom Spellar that it was at Fairlands.

A quick scan of the main lake after I arrived revealed a flock of Canada's with a smaller goose on the far bank so I headed there and was able to confirm it was the White Front. Unfortunately, but not unexpected, a dog walker scattered them and most swam into the middle, luckily a few were heading to the east bank and I was able to get a few snaps with the phone. Nice easy twitch, and my first county White Front for some time.

And Now Another Post

 Just like buses.

Yesterday I tried to have a walk around Fairlands Lakes. Having located 15 Siskin and the Kingfisher I thought I was on a roll then torrential rain arrived and I was forced to give up.

Today couldn't have been more different. Bright sunshine blue skies and mild. I decided on a walk around Aston End despite knowing it would be very muddy and treacherous in places. I started off at Chells Manor and walked down the river to the ford then returned via Aston End and home. 

Much of it was uneventful-lots of Robins, a few tit flocks in places and singing Skylarks, plus a few Buzzards and Red Kites. Thrushes were around of course with small numbers of Redwing Blackbird and Fieldfare, but not the numbers I have encountered recently. 

Because of the muddy conditions it was slow going so I decided to miss the High Wood detour and carry on down to the ford. A large flock of birds east of Lords Farm proved problematic. There were a couple of Skylarks, but a dozen smaller birds were with them. I thought at first they might be Linnets and Yellowhammers but they were far off and hidden from view in the furrows of winter wheat. Eventually I decided they were Meadow Pipits, several of which had been heard earlier moving south along with some Pied Wagtails. I was just about to carry on when I heard a loud tew. Hoping it might be a Bullfinch I searched the blackthorn and was very surprised when a warbler popped up with a prominent eyestripe. Confused, wondering why a Sedge Warbler would still be here, when it emerged the plain, pale grey buff, fine black bill was odd, but when I saw the greenish edges to the wing feathers I connected it with the call and realised it was a Siberian Chiffchaff. This was pretty much proven when I played the calls of various Chiffchaffs-it only responded to Siberian. Unfortunately like the few I had seen in the past it was hyperactive and in the three or so minutes it was in view I couldn't get it in the camera viewfinder.

The rest of the walk was something of an anticlimax, but I did eventually find a female Bullfinch, which has been a bit elusive this year despite my many surveys of the area.

And i was also lucky to get a clear spell this evening so the refractor came out and I got another view of Jupiter and Saturn.

Still Here

 It's been some time since I last wrote anything here. The last half of my holiday coincided with the governments tier system coming into effect, and while it would be possible for Colin and I to meet up somewhere, we wouldn't be able to travel together without social distancing (?). So any long distance twitching would be doubly expensive, not exactly environmentally friendly and we would put ourselves at increased covid risk.

So i went back to my furlough routine of gardening and local walks. A couple of times I drove out to Wallington in the hope of getting the Merlin (and Hen Harrier and Short Eared Owl are up there as well) but so far without success. There have also been a few Amwell visits where the Crossbills have shown a few times but I have yet to see the Bittern and Red Crested Pochards that are usually present.

Locally the weather has made things difficult recently with plenty of rain at times. The Beane is now flowing which is good to see but run off from the fields has made the going very soft along the footpaths. The winter thrushes-mainly Redwing with some Fieldfare and Blackbirds are starting to increase but I have found it rather tough trying to track down finches and Buntings. In early November I located a large Chaffinch flock at Aston Water Tower with a couple of locally scarce Brambling, but since then its been very quiet with only a few Yellowhammers in the hedges. Fortunately Siskin seem to be visiting Fairlands Lakes at times, and the Kingfisher is still there too.

On another topic, the 115mm refractor has been dusted off again and I have had a couple of views of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. Very low in the sky once it's dark enough to pick the brighter Jupiter up atmospheric dispersion and turbulence have made things difficult to put it mildly, but earlier this evening (19th December) I got a pretty good sequence of which this is probably the best.