31st Dec 2021: Grimsbury Wetlands

John and I had a good trudge around the patch on Tuesday morning, with the main aim being to plug a few gaps in the year list and visit some corners we tend to miss out on our usual visits. As it turns out it was a very successful morning with three new birds for the year and one that got away...

Walking up to the reservoir John spotted 53 Lapwing circling over (which I assume came up from the cattle field) and then he quickly added that there was a small wader with them which turned out to be a Dunlin. There was also three Gadwall on the reservoir. We had very frustrating views of a bird that we both thought must have been a Merlin, flying over and then dropping low towards Hanwell Fields, but we only saw it from behind and flying away from us so can't be totally sure!

In the valley we had a good search of the 'snipe field' and soon we had seen 8+ Common Snipe and the main target a Jack Snipe. As we were searching John heard a Water Rail calling from the reeds near the river, a very good bird for patch and the first record since 2015. John also caught glimpse a bird flying around he thought was Woodcock and then later on we both had good views of two different Woodcock.
We did have a look around the Borrow Pit pool too, but it was very quiet with only a few gulls in the general area.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

On Wednesday Clive found a pair of Red-crested Pochard on the reservoir, which were also present yesterday and today. Another good addition to the year list. Later in the afternoon Wednesday I had a flock of c.20 Greylag Geese fly over the UCV, a good number for this species locally.

Courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson

Courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith

There wasn't much else around today, but there were 8-9 Siskins along the river and a Lesser Redpoll flew over the wood. 

The four year ticks in the last week have taken the patch year list up to 122. There's been some good records again and the bird of the year probably comes down to Cattle Egret (a patch first) or Bar-tailed Godwit (the first record since 1974). On the basis of rarity I was inclined to go with Bar-tailed Godwit, but a couple of others went with Cattle Egret. So Cattle Egret it is, although I assume we'll be seeing more Cattle Egrets over the coming years than Bar-tailed Godwit!

Special mentions should also go to the flyover Hawfinch and the Caspian Gulls we had this autumn. 

Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for the records, photos or just having a look. All the best for 2022!