Tuesday 13 December 2016

Little Egret at Big Waters 11 December 2016

We met as normal but Keith was away watching big silver birds (so we were expecting something different) and of we went in anticipation (Alan J, Ian D and Graeme B).  Weather was a bit dull but warm until you got into the wind then it was extremely cold.  During the week there had been very large counts of ducks on the pond and geese around but as usual a lot of them had stayed in the warmth for the weekend although we did spot quite a few geese at places not usually frequented and also a flock of approaching 200 Lapwings and a smaller one of 50ish.  Not a great lot of small birds but quite a few Thrushes flying around and a solitary Grey Wagtail.  On the pond Alan said the numbers were very small compared to record counts during the week although these had happened when the ice had formed and the wildfowl seemed to amalgamate on it so no doubt they are in there somewhere.  A total of 31 Mute Swans were also on the pond.  We also came across a flock of 70+ Common Gulls and a solitary Curlew in one of the South Fields.  As we were getting towards the end of the walk Graeme said he had just seen a possible Little Egret drop into one of fields about 300m North of our position so we headed down to its possible location and after checking a stream the Little Egret came flying out but only flew around (unfortunately away from us) but then returned and landed in a field about 100m from the stream.  It was still a fair distance from us but after a couple of minutes it then flew back to its original position so off we went.  Unfortunately I had a domestic chore to attend to so never made it to the hide and probably missed the Brambling that has been there a few days this week. So here is a short video and a few pics of the walk around




Some lucky sods returning from the miserable weather on the continent to the bonny Toon


 Teazel in the wild seems to do much better than in my garden
 Noticed a Juvenile and an Adult feeding and flying around together with
the Juvenile seeming to lead, unusual for this time of year ?

We are off for a couple of short holidays (relaxing coach trips with a bunch of other wrinklies to Yorkshire and Lancashire with plenty of joviality and drinking) so dont know when the next blog will be out so have a Happy Christmas and New Year to my thousands odd reader or two


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