1st January 2015
I had a decent start to the year today with 55 species in two walks. There are plenty of birds around, with all the usual wildfowl – Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal, Pochard and Shoveler -plus plenty of Little Egrets and Grey Herons making use of the low water levels. Smaller birds included Redwing (12), Treecreeper, at least 15 Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrest. Other highlights included 2 Ravens (and other corvids) feeding on the corpse of a swan, plus 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Lapwing, 1 Stonechat and 10 Snipe flushed from their usual place in a part of the site not accessible to the public.
Also met a fisherman who had caught a Chub on the River Stour, so Longham’s fish species tally for the year is now 1.
Martin Wood also saw at least one species I didn’t today, Reed Bunting, so that’s 56 in all.