Saturday and Sunday 19th and 20th January

Sparrowhawk (c) Bark

A weekend of two very different days. Saturday grey, drear and eventually very damp and drizzly. Sunday was in complete contrast. It started cold and frosty with just a hint of low mist as the sun rose orange through the bare branches of the Roman Road oaks, a bright sunny morning followed.

Birdwise not too much has changed since last week. Bitterns are once again showing frequently. On Sunday we saw two different individuals, one flushing from the ditch beside the bridleway and flying out into the small reedbed in the middle of Greenaways, the other coming from a small ditch on the closes and flying across to land in the reeds on northern edge of the field.

Bittern heading across Closes (c) JR

The hide is offering plenty of interest from the finch flock feeding on the seeds alongside it, this flock is getting bigger all the time.

Chaffinch and Reed Bunting (c) JR

When we arrived back at the hide on Sunday morning after a visit to the screens we wondered where all the birds had gone. Then we noticed a male Sparrowhawk sitting motionless on one of the fenceposts…..as well as offering feeding for the smaller birds it also creates a feeding opportunity for raptors!

Panic (c) Bark

Out at the screens the ducks were concentrated around the small unfrozen leads of water but by mid-morning most of the ice had gone. Wildfowl numbers are still significantly below those that we would expect at this time in the winter. Water levels are still below target after the dry autumn and early winter and this will be significant a factor.

Ducks in the open water (c) JR

Along the trail to the second screen there was a party of eight or so Bullfinches feeding on the desiccated blackberries that are still clinging to the brambles. It seems extraordinary that enough sustenance can still be found in these tiny seeds.

Blackberry feeding Bullfinches (c) Bark

Despite the cold we heard three different Cetti’s warblers calling from the reedbed and the ditch beside the bridleway. A Short-eared Owl was seen last week hunting across Greenaways in the mid-afternoon.

Chilly Robin (c) JR

The most significant change on the moor over the last two weeks has been the collapse of the Starling roost. Numbers fell from approximately fifty thousand birds last weekend to barely five thousand by Friday, the numbers halving daily. Please let anyone you know who might be considering a visit that the spectacle is over now until the autumn. We don’t fully understand why this has happened, but it may well be to do with the depletion of feeding opportunities in the surrounding countryside. It will have a positive effect on the health of the reedbed and the quality of the water in the lagoon. To improve the water quality the RSPB are circulating the water out onto Greenaways to dilute and dissipate the chemical effects of all those starling droppings every night.

Teal are coming closer to the hide as we are putting some feed into the water (c) Bark

The raptors attracted by the roost are still present, however. There was a report of a ring-tailed Harrier yesterday and a Merlin was seen chasing a Snipe across the MOD land. Peregrines are attracted by the Lapwing and Golden Plover flocks and Kestrels are drawn by a healthy population of small mammals. The regular pair of Marsh Harriers are still haunting the reedbed sometimes spending long periods of time perched in bushes surrounding the lagoons.

Brilliantly camouflaged Snipe (c) Bark