Decided to give the Valley a visit in preparation for a weekend sortie to get the patch list up and running for the New Year. Finished this year on 128, the best total for me so far, surpassing 2009’s 119.
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| Perfect camouflage makes it very hard to spot |
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| So easily overlooked |
The main target birds for the visit were Owls and to also try and catch up with the Bittern. Standing there in semi darkness at the Optomist end gave me a briefly calling Tawny Owl in the usual section of woodland, one down, one to go. The Bittern was a lot harder to find, had a brief view of one flying back down the Lake ( still frozen), it then took me another hour before I eventually located one. Can also confirm from these sightings that there are definitely 2 birds.
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| Best view I got before it melted into the reeds |
Cannot complain either with the supporting cast, some very good birds were seen.
Species of note were
Wigeon -10 over and 2 on the floods
Cettis Warbler – 8 calling birds
Shoveler – 12
Little Egret – 1
Redwing – 32
Fieldfare – 14
Skylark – 31
Lapwing – 123
Golden Plover – 16
Bullfinch – 2
Goldcrest – 5 in a mixed flock
Hopefully I can catch up with this lot come weekend, also visited the Apple Tree at the Optomist end to see if the Waxwings had returned, no luck.
Below are a couple of photo's taken on Christmas Day morning before dinner.
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| Waxwings |
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