Sunday January 8

After being unable to birdwatch here on New Years Day, today was the next available Sunday. It dawned very foggy and mild.

Dave and I decided to walk along the road to at least hear woodland birds, and to an extent this was a successful ploy as we heard Mistle Thrush and Grey Wagtail as well as most of the more expected species.

We were, however, feeling a bit dejected as we reached the pool. Fortunately, the fog suddenly cleared as we approached the flash field and we were able to pick out 11 Wigeon on the furthest flash, a larger flock than any seen in 2016. We also logged 11 Teal and two Snipe.

Four of the Wigeon

Continuing on this theme, although the fog soon started to reform, we were surprised by a flock of 40 Siskins which flew over and headed off down the brook. This was the largest party for several years, and all the more surprising in a winter where they seemed to be rather scarce.

So we ended up with a modest total of 44 species but at least its a start.