Winter Scenes

A few more wintery scenes.

Snow

Last night we had a big fall of snow, similar to what we got in February. As a result, most of the town seems to have ground to a halt. Luckily I had the day off and could for once enjoy what is these days a pretty rare event.

Having cleared about four inches of the stuff off the feeders, disturbing the waiting Robin, I spent some time waiting to see what would arrive. Seven House Sparrows, two Starlings, two Blue Tits and a Dunnock came down over the next hour-pretty normal but I did get two Great Tits which are not at all frequent. One of them sat for a while on a fence post and proceeded to bathe in the snow, something I have not noticed before.

At 0930 I went for a walk out to the countryside east of Stevenage. Most of the time, the snow was around four inches deep, but in a few places there were drifts waist deep. Birds were of course rather infrequent. A few Skylarks could be heard moving west, and two Lapwing were a surprise. More expected were thrushes and tits. I found a large flock of Long Tailed Tits which also contained a few Blue and Great Tits. There were several small flocks of Fieldfare, and every now and again I encountered Redwings, Blackbirds and the occasional Mistle Thrush. A single Kestrel was the only bird of prey.

Another quiet one

With the iffy weather and a lack of exciting new stuff to go and photograph we decided to save a bit of petrol money and have another quiet weekend.
So yesterday morning I went down to Amwell for the usual social gathering and hopefully a few decent birds. It was a nice sunny start, though it gradually got colder and by mid day the sun was starting to go as well. The water is a lot higher than when I was last here-a combination of the higher sluice gate and recent heavy rain. As a result, there is not much left of the islands for loafing wildfowl and waders. The reeds have been cut in places leaving long channels which are now starting to get a bit wet and this has produced feeding opportunities for waders and smaller birds.
There were a lot of early thrush movements-mainly Fieldfare with a smaller amount of Redwing, but the first decent bird was a Chiffchaff seen in one of the willows. Some of us then went down to Hollycross Lake to see the Red Crested Pochard-only the one this time, but stopped off on the way at a clump of birches first. Did not take long for a couple of Redpolls to appear, along with a Siskin. The latter is still a regular winter sight, but the days of big Redpoll flocks in the Lea Valley are a thing of the past. We also enjoyed prolonged views of one of the resident Cetti's Warblers and a brief Redwing in the bushes.
Back at the viewpoint, gull numbers were building, but nothing unusual was picked up, a few Snipe were seen-no Jacks yet and in one of the reed-bed cuts a Water Rail fed along with a number of Reed Buntings.

Garden Survey

Have had a couple of days off with a stomach bug, so I had plenty of time to watch the garden for the NOA survey.

Unfortunately visitor numbers remain low-this weeks maximum totals:-

Wood Pigeon 1

Collared Dove 2

Dunnock 2

Robin 1

Blackbird 2

Blue Tit 1

Magpie 1

House Sparrow 8

Goldfinch 2

The Magpie is interesting. I sometimes see one at the bottom of the garden on garage roofs, and they sometimes sit on the house eaves and gutters, but this one (today) is the first I've ever seen come down to the feeders.

Only other observation of note was a fly over Grey Heron.

No Frigate Birds or Black Bellied Storm Petrels yet.

Staying In

The Pacific Diver on the Hayle in Cornwall was a bit tempting, but in view of the weather in the West Country, we decided not to go down yesterday. Good thing too as I was not feeling at all well all day.
Today I decided not to go out. The Norfolk Ornithological Association starts it's Winter Garden Bird Survey today so I thought I'd get off to a good start. Three Sparrows, a Wood Pigeon, and single Blue Tit Robin and Dunnock. The flocks of finches and Sparrows I have been getting have not been seen today.

Amwell Again

News of a putative 'meena' Oriental Turtle Dove at Collieston near Aberdeen yesterday lunch time was a bit of a worry since neither Colin or I were really up for it, since it is about nine hours each way. Possible for a Friday night/Saturday return if we were prepared for it, but not on the spur of the moment trip up and return on Sunday.
Luckily it turned out to be a very late Turtle Dove.
With nothing much to justify an expensive trip, I spent the morning at Amwell. Turned out to be a nice sunny day again, which was a bonus after yesterday's rain and gales. At least the pond is full up now.
There were at least four Egyptian Geese present, though by the time I arrived, only two remained, and they flew off after an hour or so. Snipe numbers building up now, or at least more visible now the water level is increasing. About seven could be seen at times from the watch-point. The female type Stonechat was seen again. I went down to the Water Vole view point just in case the Bittern was showing and possibly also to pick up Redpolls and Siskins that have been seen here. Had the usual calling Cetti's Warbler, and a nice Marsh Tit too. I went off to Hollycross and though I failed to see the Red Crested Pochards, I did get very good views of the Marsh Tit, a pair of Bullfinch, and my first decent flock of Fieldfare of the autumn.

November update

Have not had a chance to do much birding recently-last weekend was a non starter thanks to a chest infection. About the only thing of note was a late Red Admiral in the garden on the 2nd.
Yesterday I decided to get some fresh air and went down to Amwell. It was one of those lovely sunny late autumnal days that made it a great morning just to be out.
The birding was fairly standard-the usual mix of duck, geese and gulls loafing around. The Pintail were not present, though they had been seen earlier in the week. Two Snipe on the main island were the only waders apart from the inevitable flocks of Lapwing. The thermals eventually got going and several Sparrowhawks, Kestrel and Buzzard took to the air. At one point, all the Lapwing and gulls went up, in a manner suggesting a Peregrine, but we never managed to spot it, and its doubtful if the female Sparrowhawk nearby would have provoked such a reaction.
One female Stonechat was present. So far it seems that there are none wintering at Amwell, but presumably one or two moving around the Lea Valley are visiting from time to time.
I went down to Hollycross with Phil Ball and talked about his holiday to Cape Verde-not the best trip with a broken ankle, but he had a pretty good time. We saw the three female Red Crested Pochard, and he pointed out the phenomenal amount of Plums/gages of varying colours remaining in the trees. A lot of the trees and bushes have lost their leaves now, but in places the colour is still very good.
I was wondering about the lack of Bittern sightings recently, but last night heard that Bill Last had seen one in the afternoon, so it looks like one has finally turned up for the winter.