Hen Harrier in Foxton

Ventured out for a lunchtime stroll at Fowlmere, my first time out the house for over a week due to illness. Very quiet. Bumped into Doug as leaving to return to work and he asked me if I’d seen the Hen Harrier, which I hadn’t. The reason – I found out whilst driving home – was that it was along Fowlmere Road in Foxton!

Garden Birdwatching

Convalescing, after severe flu, so sat on the sofa all day. Did manage to set up a camera with remote shutter cable to take a few pictures of one of two visiting Fieldfares. Tom did the RSPB Garden Birdwatch, and apart from Fieldfare (an addition not on the list), recorded the following.

 

Wintery Foxton

Not feeling well, but drove up and down Fowlmere Road looking for the Waxwings. None were found. Maybe they moved on when the snow came? A good number of Fieldfares, around twenty Red-legged Partridges, ten Grey Partridges, and a huge Woodpigeon flock that must have numbered four figures.

Fowlmere in the Snow

A very quick walk around before dusk with Sam, just to get out and throw some snowballs. Not much seen: Barn Owl, a flock of around fifteen Corn Buntings, Seventeen Teal and four Gadwall.

Snow

Went to a Snowy Fowlmere. Not many passerines. Just some Teal (14), Gadwall (4), and a couple of Snipe, with the Barn Owl snugly asleep in the nest-box. Some cold looking Fallow Deer were feeding in the field.

Foxton and Fowlmere

Took a break from a busy week to first look see if I could find the Waxwings in Foxton. I did, they had moved towards Newton. Ten birds were seen.

 

 

 

 

Fowlmere was quiet as usual, but still held around thirty Siskins, as well as a pair of Gadwall and eight Teal.

  

Fowlmere, Foxton, and Therfield

Started at Fowlmere. As usual, quiet. 14 Teal and two Gadwalls from the hide along with around 50 flyover Lapwings. Then bumped into a flock of about 30 Siskins mixed in with some Goldfinches and two Redpolls.

Drove around Foxton looking for Waxwings, but with no joy, but did get about 10 Grey Partridges and a a mixed flock of about 70 Lapwings and 30 Golden Plovers.

Then went with Marcus Kohler to Therfield Heath. Not a bad hours birding with a Peregrine, the Great Grey Shrike, and a Barn Owl. Also lots of Grey Partridges calling at dusk.

Cold!

Just above freezing but biting Easterly wind made it feel much colder.

Started at Therfield Heath. No Shrike and not a lot else apart from the usual Red Kites and Buzzards until just before I left when a small flock of eleven Golden Plovers flew past me.

Couldn’t find any Waxwings in the village or anything interesting on the flooded fields so went to Fowlmere last thing which was extremely quiet (and cold).

Herts Birding

Thick fog to start the day, so waited until it cleared around 11 o’clock. Went around the village looking for Waxwings and Gulls, but couldn’t find the former (though they were reported) and the latter didn’t hold anything too interesting (though there were reasonable numbers again).

Then made my why into Hertfordshire where after about twenty minutes I found one of several Hawfinches in St. Andrews Church in Bramfield. A Nuthatch was very confiding there also.

So, on to Amwell which I knew was holding a few good birds: Scaup, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and Bittern. I failed on the last of these, but three out of four target birds for the afternoon isn’t too bad at all. A third winter Yellow-legged Gull was in the roost and a single Little Egret was seen.

Foxton Waxwings

The number of Waxwings increased from the usual four to about twenty today. Maybe another group joining with the few remaining birds, or the previous birds returning? Fowlmere very quiet.

Foxton

A quick bash around Foxton before work produced a single adult Yellow-legged Gull (one of  only three large gulls, the other two being Lesser Black-backed Gulls) and four Waxwings.

Minsmere

Went to my parents house for possibly our last New Year celebration there. Didn’t get to bed until about 3am, so was a bit of a late start, leaving their house just after 9:30am after seeing the first bird of the year, as usual, a Robin.

Within ten minutes of arriving at Minsmere I had about a dozen or so Waxwings fly over my head near the North hide, heading towards the visitors centre.  A good start to the year to say the least.

Next, I had some excellent views of a Bearded Tit, and even managed a poor photo:

Then round at the East Hide I saw three Smew (two drakes) and a Kingfisher, a bird that I’ve not seen at this site before. As well as the Smew, there were a very large number of other ducks, especially Teal; the mere was flooded which swelled the number I guess, at the detriment of waders, of which there were none at all.

I then met up with the family for a lunchtime walk at Dunwich. A nice walk in the sun, but with no special birds, though my father saw a Peregrine.

The walk finished around 2:30, so this time with Tom, I went back to Minsmere where we managed to add a few good birds, particularly two Tundra Bean Geese on the South levels. The Smew count also increased to four (two males and two red-heads) just before dusk. Whilst walking back to the visitors centre at dusk, we were lucky enough to have a flock of about twenty wild swans fly, mostly made up of Whooper Swans, but also with a couple of Bewick’s' Swans. Whilst watching these, two Peregrines flew around disturbing the ducks. A fine end to a very good day.