08th Jan 2015: Goosander

Unwilling to head out in the rain this morning, I waited till this afternoon to make my visit. It sounded like the birds were happy with the afternoon sun too, as several species were in full song.

Scanning over the reservoir I counted seven Great Crested Grebes and checked through the other birds for anything interesting. A nice drake Goosander was right out at the far end. A new species for the year list. This is probably the same bird that was seen occasionally through December last year.

I spent most of the time in the wood just stood watching the roaming feeding party. It is mostly Long-tailed Tits with several Great and Blue Tits and sometimes joined by Willow and Coal Tit. The Long-tailed Tits were very vociferous and spent a lot of time chasing each other around. Maybe they are getting ready to pair up? Treecreepers and Goldcrests are around and the latter seems to be quite numerous. The two Chiffchaffs (including the Siberian type) are still there too.

On the way back to the car park I scanned through the gathering gulls. There was only Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed there today, but I did spot this ringed Black-headed. Unfortunately though, it was only metal ringed and I couldn't get the details.

 Several other common species were added to the year list taking the total up to 47.