Wednesday December 6 - Sometimes its just hard going

 I can't lie, it's been a challenging few days. On Sunday Dave and I splashed around Morton Bagot in misty, drizzly conditions ....again, and saw next to nothing. The ringers had been trying their best in the frost of Friday and Saturday, and had caught around 100 birds, but most of them were Tits, and half of those were re-traps.

Netherstead (Morton Bagot) before the weather really got bad

For the next two days it rained and I hunkered down at home.

Finally, on Wednesday, the sun shone. Where did I choose to go? Drake's Cross. Not an obvious place to look for birds, but for the last few weeks I have been playing it cool Waxwing-wise. Meanwhile almost every county in the UK has had at least one. The exceptions are Surrey, Wiltshire, and yes Worcestershire. 

So the plan was to lay the ghost and find a Waxwing. After a couple of hours tramping the streets I found one or two promising berry-laden bushes but no Waxwings. Ah, the frustration of it all. 

Compensations were few. A single Redpoll flew over, a small party of Siskins, and in a horse paddock just south of the suburb a Little Egret did its best to hide behind a fence.

Little Egret

My route took me to Grimes Hill and back to Drake's Cross alongside some fields which were largely a series of horse paddocks.

Female Pied Wagtail in winter garb

So no luck today, but I was breaking new ground geographically speaking. Maybe next time my luck will turn.

PS: Ringing stats from Morton Bagot as follows:

Blue Tit 63 (31)

Great Tit 16 (11)

Long-tailed Tit 1 (1)

Goldcrest 2 (1)

Wren 2

Robin 1 (1)

Redwing 8

Blackbird 1

Dunnock 3 (2)

Greenfinch 7

Lesser Redpoll 18

Goldfinch 3