The Waxwings of Woburn

I had spent part of the morning trying to find some Waxwings around Milton Keynes - we have lots of Rowan trees laden with berries so surely its only a matter of time.

When news that the flock at nearby Woburn had risen to 105 it proved too tempting to ignore. 

The whole of Leighton Road seems to be planted up with pink berried Rowans and these are obviously a big favourite with our Scandinavian visitors.

I only found 18 birds but Hey with quality like this quantity is unimportant.                                                                                                   

Snowy Tongwell



Canada Goose



Blackbird



For the first time ever I was snowed off in November, so I decided to drive around some known areas with berry laden Rowan trees to see if any Waxwings had decided to grace Bucks with their presence. The answer was of course no, so I decided to take a wander around Tongwell Lake.                                 

drake Pochard



 Most of the lake was frozen over, so the open area of water held quite a high concentration of waterfowl, which included Great-crested Grebes, Gadwall, Wigeon, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Pochard and a whopping 103 Shoveler.A lone Snipe was flushed from the bank side

Walking around the wooded area on the far side I discovered a group of 4 Siskin feeding amongst a small flock of Goldfinches and a bunch of 14 Redpoll that contained 2 slightly larger greyer birds, which after a bit of research I am convinced were Meally Redpolls



Siskin





Boy It was cold this morning !.

Are we mad ? was the thought that entered my head as I scraped the ice off the car at 6:30 this morning.
The temperature was around minus 9, but Paul and I had arranged to meet Mike Wallen at Steps Hill, mainly to try and see an unusually late Ring Ousel that had been around a few days, but also to see what other migrants might be around.
 It was absolutely perishing so there was no standing around. Incredibly there was a lot of birds around in the berry laden bushes, mainly Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Redwings, but smaller numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches and  assorted Tits.
A herd of 14 black Fallow Deer on the North slope were good to see as they effortlessly leapt a 4 foot fence as if it wasn't there and a Fox was seen to narrowly miss catching one of the many Rabbits that were present.
 Unfortunately we didn't find the Ring Ousel, but if it has any sense it will have pushed off southwards.

 Next stop was Wilstone Reservoir, where we hoped to see the wintering Water Pipit.
Again we missed out, but compensated with 2 Whooper Swans, 30 odd Golden Plover, male Goldeneye, Redshank and Kingfisher amongst the many Coot, Wigeon, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Gadwall.

 While on the Hills, Paul had received a text from Keith 'Holding Moments' O'Hagen that he had found a bird he was unsure of at Caldecotte. So we decided to call in to check it out.
 After a brief search we located a beautiful Redhead Smew close to the Cormorant island and after checking with Keith, this was indeed his bird.
 Finally I had seen Smew in the county this year after several attempts.Thanks Keith.

Gayhurst and Swans Way

My first visit to Gayhurst Quarry in a month.
Two Jays in the large Oak near the stables  escorted me all the way down the hedgerow to the wood.
 At Fishing Pit I met up with Gen and we scanned the lake to see 2 male and 1 female Goosander, several Great-crested Grebe, a whole lot of Wigeon, half a dozen Teal and a few Tufted Ducks.
The fields over towards Quarryhall contained a large number of Lapwings, 30 to 40 Golden Plover and a few Fieldfare.
 On Spinney  Pit the Swan family are still present with the Polish youngster now looking like an adult, compared to it's still grey siblings.
 A large flock of mixed Greylag and Canada Geese was present beside the footpath, but didn't contain anything different other than a Hybrid between the two species.
 Motorway Pit was relatively quiet, a drake Goldeneye being the best on offer. Less a hundred Mallard now remain, so whether they have been all shot or have just moved away only time will tell.
 A quick look at the pollarded Willow in between the two rivers produced a Little Owl trying to absorb a bit of sunlight while tucking itself in away from the cold wind.

 At dusk I took a walk from Linford Reserve down to the old ruined church to see if I could find any Owls.
No such luck but I did see predators in the form of a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, 4 Herons over on their way to roost on the reserve and 2 Foxes.

Frampton and Freiston

Our latest RSPB group trip was the Lincolnshire Reserves Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore.

Black-tailed Godwit

Our first destination was Frampton. Before we had even left the car park a flock of a dozen or so Tree Sparrows greeted us as they flew to the feeders by the visitor Centre.
 From the centre around a hundred Black-tailed Godwits fed around the shallow scrapes, along with a few Ruff and a good few Wigeon, Gadwall and Teal. Three Corn Buntingswere a good sighting by the side of the track.
 Walking around to the 360* Hide a flock of 30 plus Twite bathed in the pools.Around 50 Curlews were on the surrounding fields and a large mixed Lapwing/Golden Plover flock flew around. Dunlin, Snipe and a Turnstone made up the wader contingent.
 Some smart drake Pintails and several Shelducks were scattered around.
Brent Geese were everywhere and one flock numbered several hundred. 8 Pinkfeet were brief visitors.

                                                           Redshank

 After lunch we moved on to Freiston, where again several Tree Sparrows met us in the car park.

The Lagoon held much the same as at Frampton, but also 5 or 6 Little Grebe, a lone Oystercatcher, a couple of hundred Feral Pigeons.

Two Barn Owls hunting the far bank were a good sighting as were 3 Whooper Swans that dropped in briefly.

 A walk around the sea bank produced several Little Egrets and a a very distant Peregrine perched on a post out on the salt marsh. 

Garden Treat

A real surprise in the garden today in the form of a Tree Sparrow.

Now a scarce bird in Buckinghamshire so I feel very privileged

.

  Surprisingly not my first garden record, the last bird 3 or 4 years ago stayed for 18 months.                                                                                 

A pleasant lunchtime in the Brickhills

 With all the reports of large numbers of Redpolls including several Mealies being seen nearby in Bedfordshire, I spent my lunchtime at Bow Brickhill to see if I could locate any of my own.
It really was a nice place to be with the bright sunshine on the carpet of still colourful fallen leaves.
The birds were quite noisy and Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Chaffinches could be heard. Siskins were plentiful as they flew over and several could be seen feeding in Silver Birch  trees.
 Every now and then a Tit flock was encountered and these were scanned to find Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed, also a few Goldcrests and on one occasion a lone Lesser Redpoll.
 A large flock of small finches that flew over were suspected of being Redpolls, but they were silent so I couldn't be sure. I think I will have to come back when I have a bit more time.