Sunday, 19 February 2017

19th Feb - cloudy, grey, light westerly, 11C

A Goldcrest was singing in the Church yard yew tree first thing.  In the top field east of village a mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare were feeding ~ 150, plus a flock of Starlings ~100.  Mid-morning I heard a Curlew call as it flew over northward.

I visited Stanford reservoir this afternoon to check it out.  The water level has gone down a little more, with some shore appearing around all of the water now.  It is planned to drop the level a lot over the next two weeks, so we'll see what birds drop in.

The usual water birds were around, Goosander 64, Teal 17, a good number of Pochard, Wigeon and Goldeneye.  The Long-tailed Duck was seen briefly, then disappeared and not seen again - this often happens.  14 Little Egret, 3 Grey Heron.  Two Litle Grebes were near the reeds and ove4 30 Great-crested Grebes are still present.

Small birds seemed few, a single Bullfinch and Goldfinch, 40+ Tree Sparrows at the feed station.  A flock of c15 Redwing and c30 Fieldfare flew over southward.  A couple of Buzzard were chasing each other in the area over the fields.  Skylark are singing well now, even more so if the sun would shine.

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