Sunday January 20

I wasn't sure what state the minor roads would be in today, so decided to drive to St Mary's church Oldberrow and walk the ten minute journey to the patch boundary. In fact it wasn't too bad, and after making the surprise discovery of two Ostriches/Emus (not sure which) in a field along the road, I started seeing wild birds by about 8.40am.

In fact one of the first birds I saw was quite unexpected as a Green Sandpiper flew out of a stream and landed on a fence post.

The Green Sandpiper

I suppose tringa waders often perch prominently in the breeding season but I cannot remember seeing a Green Sandpiper doing so in the UK. I continued to the pool, which was largely frozen and lacked birds entirely.



The main pool

By the time I got to the flashes it was snowing steadily. My initial optimism at the sight of plenty of birds ebbed away as I eventually established that only the regulars were present; 20 Canada Geese, 82 Greylag Geese, 59 Teal, 91 Mallard, 44 Lapwings, 20 Snipe, and four Moorhens. In truth many were hunkering down in the damp snow covered grass and it was impossible to be sure that I had seen everything.

I carried on and was feeling resigned to gaining no year-ticks today. That was until I reached the tin shed. As usual I squatted down to peer into the gloom, but as I did so a beautiful Barn Owl ghosted out and floated off over the thicket. My feelings of awe and elation were mixed with guilt as clearly the bird would have been much better off spending the day undisturbed. Hopefully it found a dry bolt hole somewhere. I just about manage to record this species each year, but never more than one sighting per annum.

This was to be my only year-tick today, so I am now on 66. I headed past Netherstead Farm and then back along the road into the teeth of what was now a bit of a blizzard. The only noteworthy discovery was a potentially Waxwing-friendly cotoneaster in the garden of the property adjacent to Bannams Wood. A bush to keep an eye on this winter I think.