Patch doldrums

The patch seems to be going through one of its quiet spells and apart from the Siberian Chiffchaff there has been nothing of new of note on site all winter.  This can be rather frustrating as you are just looking through the same old birds during each visit, however, that is the nature of patch working, but I hope that something good turns up soon, as this is set to be my slowest start to the year for a while.

Having said that, the following records are worth a mention:

A fly over Raven on the 3rd, which although annual, can be tricky to see.  This bird was missing a feather or two from its inner primaries/secondaries on its right wing.

A pair of plumed Little Egrets appeared in the heronry on the 4th.  I'm hoping that following last year's breeding success, they will continue to breed here.  The Grey Herons and Cormorants are already busy rebuilding their nests and taking up position.



Bird 1



Bird 2

A party of 5 Bullfinches on the northern side on the 4th was also nice to get, as I had to wait until Juy to add this species last year.

Duck numbers are still holding up, but not attracting any of the more unusual species, so as yet no Goldeneye, Goosander, Pintail, Mandarin or Red-crested Pochard or anything rarer.  I did count 101 Pochard and 233 Tufted Duck on the 3rd, which are reasonable counts maybe boosted by the colder weather and 1-3 Shelduck have been present throughout.

Chiffchaffs are still much in evidence, particularly in the STW, but I have failed to see the Siberian again as yet, but keep looking when I get the chance.

To the north on Emmett's fields, the game cover favoured by the pair of Grey Partridge has been cut down.  On the 9th, the pair were still present but were in the crop field to the right of the main path.  The newly cut game cover had attracted 12 Song Thrush (the highest number I can remember seeing together here), c30 Linnets and a similar number of Skylarks and 3 Reed Buntings, while the crops to the north held c130 Fieldfares.