The snow had melted at last, well almost, and the sun was shining, when 15 members of the Group met at Brooklands car park for the last ‘bird watch’ of 2010.
As it was Malcolm’s birthday last week he made his annual suggestion of trying to see as many birds as he is years old. I won’t mention any figures here but, unsurprisingly, it turned out to be too many for us to achieve. However, we had a go.
Despite the noise and stink of the paper works at the start of the walk we managed to see 30 different birds quite quickly. Pochard, shovelar, tufted ducks, great-crested grebes, and of course coots, were plentiful on the lake.
Small birds in the surrounding trees included siskins, tits & finches. On the river we found a lot of teal, but no waders unfortunately, while over the railway the scrubby bushes were alive with redwing and fieldfares. More elusive birds included kingfisher and goosander, but I have to admit that the list did include a dodgy duck, uncertain jackdaw and a’ large wren’. Nevertheless we reached 50. Nowhere near our target – but not bad for the time of year!
It was a lovely day, and after being cooped up during the snow, it was good to be out in the fresh air.
Thanks to all of those who spotted the birds.
Thankfully Sue will be back soon to get some discipline into our sightings….
Sally