Around the Manor

There hasn't been any reports coming from Manor Farm recently, so I decided to check it out today.
I parked at the viaduct end and had hardly left the car when a Little Egret came out of nowhere to land on the river bank. Another was on the settling lagoon, where there was also a redhead Goosander, which was constantly diving for food, - this pit must be quite deep as the bird was down for very long periods.
 Some pretty large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings absolutely covered the grassy fields around the pits and a flock of around 50 Goldfinch fed in the longer grass.
 On the landscaped pit at least 100 Wigeon were scattered around and a small bird feeding in amongst them turned out to be a Green Sandpiper, while looking at this another Green Sand called as it flew  over towards the inlet area. A third Little Egret was paddling around this pit.A further 2 redhead goosander flew in and shortly afterwards a group of 6, 2 of them males flew over the site.
 I disturbed a Buzzard from one of the trees near the river and this in turn disturbed practically everything else that was around.
 Across the river on Cosgrove Lakes lots of Canada Geese, Tufted Ducks, Pochard and the odd Great-crested Grebe could be seen, and other than a Green Woodpecker probing in the grass that was about it.

Today at the Quarry

I visited Gayhurst Quarry early today.
Lots of small birds around especially in the wood area. The local Tit flock consisting of mainly Greats and Blues, but a few Long-taileds and a couple of Marsh. The Nuthatch is still hanging around as well.
 On Fishing Pit there were 2 redhead Goosanders and the Swan flock were having a wash and brush up before returning to the fields to feed.
The Whooper is still present and below is a record shot, as I'm probably not going to be able to get any closer. As always click it up to see better.

The huge Goose flock is still around and today contained a single Barnacle Goose - probably the one

that was at Caldecotte Lake around Christmas time.

While looking at the Geese I heard a 'peuw' call and looked up to see a V-formation of about 120 Golden Plovers heading up the valley towards Linford.                   

Motorway Pit was as usual packed with Ducks, mainly Mallard and Wigeon, but a few Tufteds, Teal some Coots and a few Great-crested Grebes. Three Little Egrets sat on the bushes on the south side of the lake.

At Quarryhall, the flock of Yellowhammers and Greenfinch is still there.

The Red-legged Partridge cage was empty today, but there were still a few birds hanging around.

A Trip to Rutland

Paul and I took a trip up to Rutland Water this afternoon, mainly on a quest to see a drake American Wigeon that had been around since early last month.
 The journey up produced a few raptors in the shape of a few Kestrels, a couple of Buzzards and a splendid Red Kite
 Our first port of call was Whitwell Harbour where the Yankie had been spending it's time over the last week.
 It took no time at all to find the Wigeon flock, 300 or so of them, but despite the two of us going over it several times we just couldn't locate the transatlantic visitor.
 Out in the bay there were Mallards, Gadwall, Tufted Ducks,Pochard, Coots and Little Grebes  present.
 While looking around the car park, we happened to notice a flock of about 20 Siskins in the Alder trees above us. A scan through them showed there to be 3 Redpolls among them and whats more further scrutiny revealed them all to be Mealy Redpolls. So a lifer for Paul after all, just not the one he expected.
 We then moved onto Barnsdale, where there were lots of birds on the water including quite a few Goldeneye and Great-crested Grebes.
 A tight group of three small Grebes were spotted  out in the middle of the reservoir and through the scope were found to be all Slavonian Grebes.
 The bay around the corner also held lots of birds including quite a few Little Grebes, a Shelduck and a drake Red-crested Pochard. On the far side a Buzzard stood on the grass tucking into something unseen, flanked by a couple of Crows who were hoping for any left-overs.

Thrilled to be Trilled

Despite having seen lots of Waxwings at the back end of last year, I was starting to think that they had all moved on, as so far this year I always seemed to be one step behind and had missed out several times.
 When I got a message about there being some at B and Q Bletchley for the second day, I thought 'You Can Do It', ( I know that's Terrible) so I headed over.
 Right outside the store entrance was the only Rowan Tree in the car park with any berries on, so I guessed this was where they should be. Unfortunately there was no sign, but two stonking great Mistle Thrushes were sat right in the middle, obviously on guard, ready to see of any Scandinavian invaders.
 I hung around for quite a while hoping that the Waxers would fly in. After about 20 minutes a superb trilling sound filled the air and a group of 21 circled the car park. They circled three times but never landed but gave some fairly decent views before flying off towards Asda. Three more birds flew around, but again didn't land.
 I found out later that if I had just moved a hundred yards down the road there were over 150 birds feeding in Tescos car park.

 I then decided to visit Caldecotte North Lake as I was close by.
Lots of birds on the now mainly thawed out water. Mallard, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufteds, Pochard, Mute Swans Canada Geese, Cormorants, Coots, Moorhens, Great and Little Grebes and a Grey Wagtail on the dam.
 Probably the outstanding sighting of the day though was Keith of the 'Holding Moments' website. This is his 'Patch' after all, and we had a good old chat about all the 'stuff' he'd seen lately including a Black-tailed Godwit the previous day

Willen,Caldecotte and Linford.

Stayed  my side of the border today.

A walk around Willen North this morning. Still almost entirely frozen even though the thaw set in  almost a week ago.
 A short vigil by in the inflow produced the anticipated Water Rail scurrying around, but other than the small unfrozen areas of the lake very few birds were around.
 A flock of 30 odd Lapwings stood on the ice, while on the water, Mallard, Wigeon, Tufteds, Pochard, Teal, Gadwall, a single drake Goldeneye, Coot, Great and Little Grebes filled what water was available.

Reports of a Scaup at Caldecotte gave me an excuse to get out this afternoon.
A drive through the Oldbrook estate proved fruitless as the Waxwings seem to have moved on.
 At Caldecotte, as at Willen most of the lake is frozen, other than an area in front of the houses which was absolutely packed with Mallards, Tufteds and Pochard, some Canada Geese, Mute Swans and a single Black Swan also a few Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler. Two female Goosander were present, as were a pair of Goldeneye, a few Little Grebe and their Great-crested cousins.
 I couldn't see any sign of a Scaup, but there was a female Tufted Duck with a very large white face mask, which could well be the bird in question.
 While the Mute Swans walked on the ice, I noticed one was wearing a BTO metal ring, so with the use of my camera I took a photo and blew it up big so I was able to read the number. I have sent the details off so if you're interested Keith I'll let you know the details when they get back to me.

For the last half hour of daylight I decided on an Owl watch at the Linford reserve.
I had only got half way down the drive when a Barn Owl got up from one of the posts and began hunting the long grass in the field just yards away. I should have turned around then as that was as good as it got, a Sparrowhawk being the only other bird of prey spotted before darkness set in.

Hopping over the Border

I haven't had a good look around Stewartby Lake in ages. Although it's in Bedfordshire, as the crow flies it's only about 5 miles from home.
 As it hasn't frozen over during the recent cold snap, a lot of water birds have relocated there.
 I parked in Marston Moretain and walked down to have a look in at the Sewage Works first. Here around a dozen Pied Wagtails picked around the rotating carousels, along with one Grey Wagtail and three Meadow Pipits.
 Scanning over the Lake I could see many Tufted Ducks, scores of Goldeneye, a few dozen Great-crested  and at least ten Little Grebe.
 Failing to see anything more interesting I decided to do a lap of the lake seeing Bullfinch, 4 Lesser Redpoll, Kingfisher  and Great-spotted Woodpecker on the way round.
 Almost reaching the North-West corner, I met another birder who asked if I'd seen the Smew. I said not and he pointed me in the direction of a 'redhead' that was sitting on the bank near to the Water-ski hut. I then asked him if he'd seen the Red-throated Diver that had been around the day before. 'Oh yes' was his reply, 'It's out there' and sure enough it was, right near to where I'd been standing on the other side of the lake, just a short time before.
 Carrying on to the west shore I encountered a huge flock of Tufted Ducks and on scanning through these I managed to pick out at least three Scaup, two females and a first winter male.

Kicking off the new year

 I started off my new year birding in the same fashion as I have the previous few with a visit to my 'local' patch Gayhurst Quarry.
 The walk down didn't produce anything much out of the ordinary and arriving at Fishing Pit it was totally birdless as it was still totally frozen over.
 The same was true of Spinney and Reedy Pit, however the huge Goose and Swan flock was still present in the field betwen the two rivers. Masses of Greylags and Canadas, around 50 Mute Swans and after a thorough search, the adult Whooper still present.
 A flock of 5 Siskins fed in the Alders by the pits and a Little Egret was disturbed from the side of the small river.
 As of my previous visit, a section of Motorway Pit was unfrozen and this is where all the ducks were found.
300 plus Wigeon and lesser numbers of Mallard, Tufteds, Pochard and Teal.

 I took the walk up to Quarryhall, where a flock of around 40 Skylarks fed in the cereal field. At the Quarry itself a mixed flock of around 30 Yellowhammers, several Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and a single Tree Sparrow adorned the hedgerow.
 At the maize strip a cage contains about 50 Red-legged Partridges. I can't really understand what this is about, as usually Gamebirds are reared in the summer and released just before the shooting season starts.
The season ends in a month, so what will they do. Surely they don't let them out of the cage just to fly into the guns. Asolutely f***ing pathetic!!!!