5th Jan 2020: Whooper Swans!

This morning was my first real chance to have a proper walk around the whole patch, along with Clive. It was really good and we recorded 51 species on patch.

At the reservoir we had Siskin fly over and a Jay in the wood. The best birds were further up the valley though. There were two Stonechats around the borrow pit pool (which have been around for a while now). I was scanning though the ducks when we finally realised the two swan at the back of the pool were not Mute Swans! Unfortunately just after we realised they were flushed by a passing dog walker. We got a good enough view to confirm they were Whooper Swans but unfortunately my chance to get any pictures was rather brief... well that's my excuse anyway! There was also a Little Egret flying around, a Wigeon on the pool and two Snipe in the usual wet field. Later in the afternoon there was three Wigeon flying around over the reservoir but they didn't land while I was there.