Shorty

When I realised I had  a missed call followed by a voicemail from Paul I realised there must be something pretty good around.
 It turned out he had found a Short-eared Owl at Linford in the field that a couple of years ago hosted 5 of these beauties and 6 Barn Owls.
I've been feeling really rough lately so I didn't need much of an excuse to leave work to go and see it for myself.
Paul was just leaving as I arrived, but told me where he had last seen the bird, and that Ray Stroud was up ahead looking for it.
 I walked down Swans way as far as the river, but there was no sign so I started walking back.
I could see Ray across the other side of the field, but it didn't seem as though he could find it either, but then after about an hour, all of a sudden there it was, right in the middle of the field quartering away busily. I watched this fabulous creature for about half an hour, the orange in it's wings standing out so well on such a dull day. At one point the bird was heading straight at me - surely no finer sight in birding -but saw me when it got to within 10 yards or so and veered off.
 I saw it pounce on Prey 7 or 8 times but each time it came up empty clawed, so there obviously is food for him there, it's just he isn't that good at catching it.
 The Kestrel is still around and I could hear Siskins on the reserve, but other than that, there wasn't really much around.

No Fire but plenty of Ice.

A lunchtime visit to Caldecotte Lake today. A Firecrest had been seen a couple of times in the last week near the Monellan Drive car park, but despite a good hours search there was no sign. There were however a good variety of other small birds around, as the small stream was unfrozen and a lot of them were bathing in it. Chaffinches, Goldfinches,Greenfinches, some quite confiding Bullfinches, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits. Fallen Crab Apples were being gorged on by Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Redwings.
 Round on the mostly frozen North Lake the Scaup was again present after having been seen at Willen Lake yesterday afternoon.

Rewarded for 'Doing my Duty'

I don' really enjoy doing bird surveys, but I felt I had to do my bit towards the B.T.O. Bird Atlas so have put my name down for a couple of squares.
 I had a couple of spare hours this afternoon so I decided to walk around my Lathbury Tetrad.
Thrushes were abundant, especially Fieldfares, with Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Redwings in smaller numbers.
Down on the river, there were lots of Mute Swans, a few Mallard and surprisingly a fair few Teal and Wigeon and a couple of Snipe flew up noisily.
Raptors  in the form of two Buzzards, a Kestrel and a noisy Little Owl were encountered on the circuit.
 Heading back towards the village a large flock of Goldfinches perched high on a Hawthorn hedge. While counting them (52 and 1 Linnet) I heard what I initially assumed was a Great Spotted Woodpecker, but then to my great surprise and delight a smaller bird flew out and over my head. It's bouncing flight and black and white barred wings leaving me in no doubt that it was in fact a LESSER- spotted Woodpecker. This is an extremely rare bird in the county these days and my first in Bucks for several years.

            I love Bird Surveys!

Caldecotte revisited and Broughton Grounds

With the ground frozen solid I didn't work this morning.
No-one had seen the Scaup at Caldecotte since Friday so as I suspected it was still around I decided to take another look as I was nearby.
 Sure enough in almost exactly the same place, there it was. I wonder where it had been over the weekend ?
On the South Lake there were now 14 Goosanders amongst the throng of Tufteds, Pochard, Mallards, Wigeon, Coots and Great-crested Grebes.

 I then took a walk around Broughton Grounds mainly because I hadn't been for quite a while. I didn't actually see that many birds here, but a couple of flocks of roving Siskins and a flushed Woodcock were definite highlights.

Goosanders Galore at Gayhurst

An interesting walk around Gayhurst Quarry and Quarryhall today.
 The track down to the pits provided the usual fare, with Finches of the Green, Gold, Chaff and Bull variety,a few Reed Buntings are now back at the feeders in the garden of the last house, where a Treecreeper scaled the side of an old Silver Birch.
 At the Wood an unusual call for these parts had me looking around the treetops to see a Nuthatch, - a site first for me.
 Fishing Pit was largely frozen except for a section in the middle where seven Goosanders were the only birds on the water. This was a site record as far as I was concerned - my previous best being five-, but only for a matter of minutes as another nine flew in and landed. They seemed to be actually fishing under the ice, but got bored quickly and all sixteen flew off together.
 A dead Swan on the ice of Spinney pit had me concerned for a while as I thought it may have been the Polish youngster, but it's black feet confirmed it wasn't, and I in fact found this family were fine and had relocated to Motorway Pit which was ice-free.
 Motorway Pit was rammed with Ducks, around 300 Wigeon, a similar number of Mallard and about a hundred Teal. The only diving Duck was a male Goldeneye, possibly the same one that was here last week.
 A very large flock of Greylag and Canada Geese were feeding on the potatoes that have been spread onto the fields between the rivers - an imminent shoot ?
 At Quarryhall, the Yellowhammer flock is building up with about 30 birds present, also a similar number of Chaffinch and Goldfinch. Three Tree Sparrows graced the hedgerow and a few Meadow Pipits were around.
 The Mute Swan flock were found just below the farm, but as yet there are no 'guests' within the herd.

Cold Caldecotte

There have been some good birds turning up at Caldecotte Lake lately, including a Sanderling and a possible Scaup yesterday, so I thought I would have a look around today.

The North Lake was largely frozen, but did hold reasonable numbers of Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, Coot, Great-crested Grebes, a female Shoveler and two female Goosander.

While walking around the eastern side I noticed a larger looking 'Tuftie' that completely left the water on it's dives. This was indeed a Scaup, my initial thought being that it was a female, but on looking at my photos I am now thinking that it is a first winter bird.

scaup

 Moving round to South Lake, where there were literally hundreds of Tufted Ducks (630 counted by Bob F later today) lots of Pochard, Wigeon and Gadwall, 3 Little Grebe, 10 Goosander a male Goldeneye and male Shoveler. 2 Kingfishers and a Grey Wagtail were seen and a gang of around 20 Siskin were in the Alders right down  the far end.

Arctic Willen

With the big freeze continuing I took a walk around Willen today. Most of the 2 lakes were frozen over, with just a few areas of open water.

At the inlet stream a Water Rail ran around just a few feet away . 

 The North Lake held masses of Coot, Wigeon, Gadwall, a few Teal and Great-crested Grebe, 5 Little Grebe and singles of Little Egret, Snipe and Kingfisher. 

An odd sight was this Chinese Water Deer walking around on the ice before it wandered off onto the island.                                                                                                                    



Chinese Water Deer

 On South Lake the water birds were much the same as the North, with the addition of 12 Goosander , 3 Goldeneye and a few Shoveler. 15 Siskins were feeding in some bank side Alders.

Heron