Another dull dreary wet day when it just doesn't get daylight. I hate these days and I really had to force myself to go out birding. I spent some time at Pitsford Reservoir making full use of the hides. There were a good number of wildfowl in the Walgrave bay including a "redhead" Smew and 8 Red Crested Pochard. Whilst not as many wildfowl in the Scaldwell bay there was a raft of 22 Pintail, mainly males infront of the Bird club hide plus a rather colourful male Mandarin duck sitting on a tree stump. He brought a welcome splash of colour to the mirky conditions. Amazingly the Wood Sandpiper remains which is such an unusual record for the county. There was also a Green Sandpiper and Redshank for company and useful for a comparison. Other birds of note were a Water Rail, Stonechat, 10 + Great White Egrets, and Woodcock. I counted 38 Tree Sparrows at the feeding station which is the most that I have seen for a while and they all looked very smart.
Harrington Airfield still has a few Brambling, Barn Owl and 100+ Golden Plovers and there is still a scattering of Brambling in the hedgerows below Hanging Houghton, Blueberry and the Brampton Valley Way but certainly not the huge numbers of a few weeks ago.
Eric visited Titchmarsh today and noted that the winter wildfowl numbers are low. His birds of note were 4 Great White Egrets, 12 Little Egrets, Stonechat and 30+ Siskin.
Hopefully if the weather improves so will the birding although looking ahead at the weather forecast we have more rain and balmy temperatures coming !!
Regards Eleanor
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