Mandarin Willington 24 January

The walk round Willington produced no great birding surprises, but improving the paths and access has clearly turned the area into a regular and rather busy week-end walkway. Green Sandpiper Little Egret Buzzard and a flock of 40 Fieldfares provided the highlights around the main Lake. The Mandarin above was taken amongst the exotic collection by the Danish camp. large numbers of Mandarin seemed quite innocuous amongst the Red Breasted Geese, Hooded Mergansers, Smew and Golden Pheasants - to name but a few !!!

Owls

Short Eared Owl Norfolk 17 January.

Finding this roosting Short Eared Owl, and, an obliging male Merlin, was a pleasant surprise. To come back to Bedford to have an extremely vocal Tawny Owl in the trees opposite the house the same evening made for a nice double act! The nearby street lights and the complete absence of any leaves on the trees made the Tawny very conspicuous as it called for over half an hour - before flying over the road and over my head, to disappear into the night. Not quite a Garden tick but an almost exact copy of the last time a calling Tawny interrupted the Television viewing - calling from the same trees, but, with the trees in leaf, only becoming visible when it too flew over my head and away over the houses.

S E OWL NORFOLK.mpg

A distant bird and not the most brilliant footage ever.Not easy birds to find, and this individual was an unexpected bonus find as I tracked a male Merlin that perched briefly in the same tree.

More garden Redwings

Redwing 9 January. perched in the Ivy covered apple tree near the house - seeming less wary than the Fieldfares that came into the trees at the bottom of the garden. Other visitors to the garden during the day included a male Blackcap, long-tail Tits and Goldfinches. A mid-week Kingfisher flashing along the edge of the main lake at priory CP was good to see given the continuing big freeze.

Winter catch-up

Shore Lark Snettisham 5 December. 1 of 2 present. having failed to see any shorelarks last year 2009 produced 3 at holme.14 at Holkham as well as the 2 at Snettisham


Snow Buntings Snettisham Beach 5 December. Always good to see - with obliging flocks present at both holme and Snettisham

Marsh Tit 1 January on the Snettisham Bird table and doing the typical grab-it-and run with the seed so not the best of pictures

Redwing in the Bedford Garden 4 January. Coming and going through the morning. At least 8 perched up at 1 point. long Tail tits present in the morning - but failing to pose for the camera, as did the afternoon's fly-over Heron

Fieldfare in the Garden 4 January

Song Thrush in the Garden. 4 January. Nice to have the full set of thrushes in one day

Goldfinch in the Garden. 4 January. The metal ring was obvious in the photo but no chance of reading the numbers !

4 January. A pair of Swans on one of the frozen Lakes at willington.The only birds on the lake. Not quite up to the performance of the Bittern Bonanza at Brogborough, but the Barnacle Geese looked impressive in the afternoon sun. A fly-over Green Sandpiper was a bonus

Fox Bedford 4 January. in the fields opposite the Norse Road Industrial Estate in the afternoon, with another one seen dodging the evening traffic on Church Lane !!!