Another lovely crisp day for us humans but a harsh, bitter day for the wildlife. Of course I've been feeding the garden birds plenty, but some species with more specialised diets must really be suffering.
On arrival at Marton mere. We (Jill came with me today) saw a 53 seater bus with a sign saying "Leicester RSPB members" arrive. I cant stand crowded hides or the general pfaff these groups tend to create, so we picked up the pace to get to the LEO's first.
On route to the owls, a skein of pink footed geese flew over. My first PFs of 2010. Species number 59 on my uk year list. Considering I got a half century on new years day, I've not really been scoring well since.
Anyway, on to the LEOs, 2 birds easily visible, there were probably others but we could find them.
Still no sign of the crowds, so on seeing the small patch of unfrozen water on the mere and the angle of the sun, we headed to the South "holiday park side" hide.
Immediately added pochard, gadwall, shoveller and reed bunting to my yearlist.
Then in flew a bittern! Fantastic views in-flight and stalking along the edge of the ice. We watched this bird in perfect light for about 10 minutes before the masses arrived; screaming kids and dogs included.
We pointed out the bittern to them and left the hide.
Had a scan around other areas of the mere for water rail but to no avail.
Stopped in the feeder hide to see if I could get a greenfinch! Yep, greenfinch have evaded me thus far in 2010.
Quite a short visit but 7 more birds for the year. Jill doesnt really like the longer visits anyway, she'd rather be back home playing World of Warcraft!
The views of the LEOs and the bittern had me more than satisfied!
1 comment:
Hope the dog wasn't my Frank! If it was many thanks for putting us onto the bittern - I had just been talking about them to a family I'd met in the feeding station, they were well chuffed to have one pointed out.
Cheers
Dave
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