Overnight frost and a cool overcast day. The light NE breeze continues.
Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm
I was feeling a bit ropey today, so just had a sedate plod by the ponds and around the central marsh.
Main pond
The Tufted Ducks were absent again, but there were 10 Gadwall.
Mute, Mallard, Coot and Moorhen unchanged
"No swimming" pond
Completely frozen over and empty
Fence Pond
Moorhen 1 - you can hear a Great-Spotted Woodpecker in this clip
Water Rail at least 4 calling. Their piglet like squeals are unmistakable, but their softer contact calls can catch you out. Nothing to see in this clip, other than the area where a Water Rail is calling from.
Teal 8 in the more sheltered small pools/dykes
Great-Spotted Woodpecker at least 1, probably 2
Green Woodpecker 1
Jay 1
Common Snipe 2
My reaction time today was far to slow to manage a decent shot of any of the above!
Kestrel 1
Little Egret 1 east
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| Little Egret with muddy feet |
Cetti's warbler 1 making contact calls
Bullfinch 2 males, doing what they always do in winter, feed on the swelling tree buds.
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| Male Bullfinch |
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| Some of the buds were more than just swollen! |
Imperial Rd - Malcolm
Just a brief passing check, fortunately the Stonechats were accommodating today. They never seem to feed in one area for long, so presumably cover all of their territory in a food searching cycle. I don't know the extent of their territory, but they were near the stone blocked gate near the roundabout about again today.
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| Both Stonechats |
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| A Robin regards this area as its territory. It is politely asking the male Stonechat to move on |
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| Male Stonechat |
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| Robin happy when the other redbreast has moved on. He'll be back. |
Kestrel 1
Buzzard 1
Roe Deer 2. These look to be the young female and male, that had been accompanying an adult female until recently. The clip begins on the female, the male has small velvet covered antler buds. The crackling sound is from the cables overhead and the swoosh sounds from the nearby wind turbines.
