Sunday January 10

This morning I was joined by Dave for the first time this year. After the usual overnight rain, it was cold and sunny with a very light westerly breeze.

We wandered towards the pool without seeing anything particularly remarkable, and discovered that the pool contained only a handful of Mallard. So we decided to wade (literally) into the marsh to see what we could flush. The outcome was just three Snipe plus the hoped for Jack Snipe.

We then headed for the flash, but before we reached the viewing position, three Grey Herons flew up, and with them a Little Egret. They all landed at the back of the flash field, but I struggled to get a shot of the Egret. In the event I managed one fuzzy one before they took off again, and I took two more distant record shots before we lost it behind the hedge.

Little Egret flying off

We continued the circuit without finding anything else especially noteworthy, although we did count 29 Lesser Black-backed Gulls heading east, and 175 Linnets on the wires at the south end. Earlier, a similar number had been noted near Netherstead, and were considered to be different birds. I suppose I should mention that four Feral Pigeons flew over. I can count them towards the Patchwork Challenge total, but will just note them on my own year list.