Tuesday 30 December 2014

December Green Sandpiper at Big Waters

Went for the normal Sunday walk around Big Waters on Sunday, nice day for a change with plenty of sunshine but just a tad on the cold side.  Now I am sitting here with a bloody awful cold sweating and sneezing profusely.  The highlight of the day was a Green Sandpiper taking off from a small copse we were passing although couldn't get a picture.   Lots of ice on the lake meant that a lot of the ducks were down near the public end and gave quite a good photo opportunity.  3 Song Thrushes (Thanks Alan) were feeding down the public end and also spotted a Song Thrush on the walk round.  A couple of Jays were also heard, 8 Snipe seen with pockets of Siskin scattered around and a couple of single Redpolls.  Long distance view of a possible couple of Pintail (see picture). In the Feeding station a couple of Brambling were seen and the usual Willow Tits were in and out.  Here are a few pictures from the day.

One of the 3 Song Thrushes
A lady decided to feed the birds at the public end which brought
quite a lot down for a morsel of bread
Including this quite well hooded Black headed Gull
The Tufted seemed to be doing a bit of diving also
A nice looking male Goldeneye also came down for a bite
to eat but was soon off
Gulls and Wigeon stayed more in the centre on the ice
On the walk round we came across 3 lots of Siskin feeding
These 2 duck (possible pintail) were spotted at a distance by
Alan but changed course when an aeroplane came a bit 
close to them whilst they were giving the pond the once over

A couple of Brambling in the feeding station

On the way home Ian and I spotted a Hare stretching its legs
Finally will the person who uses the hide and has a bit of a 
runny nose problem please cease throwing their used Kleenex
out the hide window.  The following picture is only about a 
third of the used tissues that were deposited immediately under
the windows facing the scrape.

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