31st Dec 2020

Well that's it for another year!

Nothing new or particularly exciting to to write about in the last few days though. The pair of Stonechats remained at the Borrow Pit pool and the single female was still present in the cattle field. A drake Goosander visited on the afternoon of the 30th and was still present this morning. Three Shovelers and a decent number of Gulls still loafed around in the UCV fields. Regular winter visitors were present with Kingfisher seen in a few locations, Siskins around in low numbers still and winter thrushes (particulalry Redwings in the cattle field) showing well at times. 

Although 2020 was a difficult year, the year list didn't suffer too badly. In fact, it was actually quite a good year for numbers of species but there has been no really good stand out highlights! I can't really pick a bird of the year really, but there were several really 'good' patch birds. 

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and good birding in 2021. Let's see what highlights we have next year!

27th Dec 2020

Flooding on the 24th meant that there was no access up to the reservoir for the day but in the afternoon Mike did manage to see a few bits in the UCV, including 70 Teal and a few Wigeon, Shoveler and Gadwall. There was also an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

On Christmas Day afternoon Mike had a female Goldeneye in the same location. Technically this is outside of the patch area but would be viewable from the patch. I would normally include such sightings in the year list if it was seen from the patch but have decided not to on this occasion as it was seen from outside of the patch area only.

On the 26th Mike was up the valley again. The floods had receeded greatly and there was less wildfowl but there was a few Wigeon still, two Lapwing and four smart looking adult Yellow-legged.

This morning there was a pair of Goosander on the reservoir and a Stonechat in the cattle field. Kyle posted some pics of the Goosanders on his blog here. In the UCV Mike had an adult and 1st CY Great Black-backed Gull, two Yellow-legged, three Shoveler and nineteen Cormorants.

21st Dec 2020

The headline news from the last few weeks was a Woodcock that John flushed from the path along the river to the north of the woodland on 5th Dec. This takes the year list to 124, which is really good considering the year we've had and restrictions on people visiting etc. I doubt there are many more species to be added to this year's list, but you never know!

Due to some technical issues (my own!) I'm missing some sighting between 22nd Nov and 5th Dec, so please let me know if I've missed anything. However, I think it's generally been fairly consistent throughout the last four weeks. 

There has been fewer large gulls around the U.C.V. and it seems like the Caspians have moved on, but Yellow-legged Gulls have been around in small numbers. On the 9th Dec there was a great count of 53 Tufted Ducks on the Borrow Pit pool, which I think must be a new high for here. A pair of Stonechats are still around the Borrow Pit too.

All photos courtesy and copyright of JFT