23.03.08
a reed bunting, seen here on a cold, grey day, the snow having cleared a little earlier.
Just imagine what a little sunshine could have done for this image.

Walking around the Reserve today in the glorious February sunshine, I counted 23 species of bird. I won’t name them all, but the more interesting sightings were as follows.

Water Rail feeding at the water’s edge
Kingfisher
Grey Wagtail – on main bridge
Heron
Pair of Coots in ‘courting’ mode
Small flock of Siskins in the Alder trees in the ‘Sanctuary’
Jay
Long-tailed tits on birdfeeder

Woodpeckers were heard but not seen.

Several small fish were seen in the main lake.

On the flora side:
Snowdrops, Sweet Violets, Marsh Marigolds and Daffodils are in bloom
Hazel and Alder trees have catkins

As people left the Wassail on Sunday, there was a somewhat uncommon visitor in the mere – a Little Egret. It’s fundamentally a small white heron in appearance and reasonably rare in the UK though becoming more popular year on year. You can find out more from the RSPB. A kingfisher also put on a good display, fishing happily at the top end of the mere (beneath the houses) whilst people watched from the bridge.

a selection of kingfisher shots from 27.12.07
in each case it is the same male bird

a good view at last
(taken 27.12.07)

A robin pretending to be a hummingbird. It was doing this an awful lot, just hovering in one spot for a few seconds at a time.

And again.

This heron flew right over me on the main bridge, making a hideous squawking!

still can’t get an image of this fellow that I am happy with,
in his absence, here’s a few others to fill the space

looking straight at you, the irresistable blue tit.

hard to see clearly, a siskin, probing for those last few seeds.

there is no getting away from it, mallards are beautiful.
they seem to be mating already, is it springtime?

A long tailed tit in the branches of the tree in the pond in the middle of the reserve. Actually there were loads of them. Apparently they like to exist in flocks of 20 or so. They hardly ever sat still for a moment though, continually running up the branches, presumably looking for bugs

A common sighting on the reserve, but not so often photographed. Jack and Howard (and Sheila, off camera) dealing with the remains of one of the trees fallen in the water. Just the branches have been removed, leaving the trunk and some lower bits as it seems to provide a nice habitat.

A nice early winter view through the willow to the sky.

there has been a solitary little grebe on site for a week or so,
fishing voraciously -this has been perhaps the best shot so far,
just as darkness loomed over The Mere. (taken 29.11.07)

two collared doves on the feeder today, quite an odd effect as the front and back of the birds are presented simultaneously.

at last a snap of this elusive fellow, a male kingfisher
-quite close to the main bridge, just as the light was failing before a huge rainstorm.

formidable claws on show here from a male great spotted woodpecker.
he watched me for a moment then he was off (-taken 21.11.07)also on site worthy of note: a sparrowhawk worrying the crows by the riverbank and later hunting across the Mere, also a grey wagtail and a kingfisher.

from far too long ago, during a strangely uneventful summer,
a female blackcap, hiding in the bog area
(-taken 31.07.07)