Its Nice To Be Back

A trip up to Scotland for a few days where the first day was sheer white out in certain spots with almighty winds but the rest were just cold with the odd spot of rain and snow.  Managed a holiday tick total of 78 species, nothing spectacular apart from the scenery which was truly magnificent in places but even better was the evening entertainment in the bar accompanied by the odd few pints and gin and tonics and the company of Big Eric, his wife Kathleen and Vernon and his wife Dot.  

We arrived back on Friday night and when I woke up Saturday morning was absolutely loaded with cold but the beloved suggested a walk in the fresh air around Big Waters might be beneficial.  Off we went and was surprised to find that the pond was 80% iced up as it didn't feel all that cold.  There was still a couple of Whoopers on the island, 15 Mute Swan and 11 Sygnets, 7 Gadwall, 4 Goldeneye, 4 Lapwing, 4 Little Grebe, 5 Canada Geese and plenty of Mallard, Wigeon, Coot and Teal.

We then headed for a wander round the public end where there was plenty of Fieldfare but only saw a few Redwing.  Also saw 5 male Bullfinch and 2 Treecreepers, quite a few Goldfinch although no Greylags were found in the fields.

A Kestrel came and landed quite close us to us on a tree and didn't leave till we had gone right past it, then it only flew about 50m then landed on a fence post next to the path

A flock of 76 Siskin with at least 1 Redpoll in was feeding in several spots around the woods, I first estimated about 50 but got a shot of them in flight and counted 77, have now added How to Estimate Better to my list of things to learn about Birding at No 124

Then after a couple of hours wandering around we went for a quick visit to the hides, bumping into Keith B, Charlie and Graeme B.  Not a great lot close to the main hide due to the ice being at its thickest there.  So headed back home to a nice cuppa and a few doses of LemSip but am now feeling a lot better.  Now its Carole who has it pretty bad and today is her 6???th birthday and we are going out to lunch with one of the kids so no doubt I will get the blame for her feeling off colour.

Am off again on Monday for a few days in Cley.