Saturday 10th January

Very cold again this morning, Fingers was completely frozen so nothing about on there although we did have an early Kestrel hovering over the Crescent. Much of the navigation channel was also frozen but some ripples, along an unfrozen edge, gave away a Mink which we watched for some time as it worked along the the far edge. 8 Cormorants were in the trees on the far side of Kingsmead and we had 7 Greylag Geese over before 35 Canadas moved onto Kingsmead.

Small birds were few and far between, probably still wrapped up warm in bed somewhere! A Bullfinch was heard around Kramer hide and there were plenty of Tits around the Rough, probably due to the feeders. A possible Chiffy at the Steps but couldn't relocate it after it moved. No sign of any Siskins today.

We had drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker in the trees opposite the Canoe Slalom and a single Grey Wagtail in the Canoe Slalom.

Back at the main lake the early geese had departed leaving more room for the rest of the wildfowl. Shoveler made up the biggest proportion of those although we couldn't match DK's count of 70 and settled for mid 50's. 15 Pochard, 3 Teal, a pair of Mute Swans and a number of Mallard made up the rest. The Greylag/Canada cross was also present.

In the south west corner of the main lake John did well to spot a Treecreeper feeding in the Willows. In the north west corner (Beefeater corner) there were 10 Goldfinch.

On arrival I had 30 Magpie in and around the car park with 10+ having already moved through. More were seen as we walked along the main path.

Too much Pecker!

09/01 - While filling up the feeders late morning, there were 3 (ad male + ad fem + imm fem) Great Spots in the 'rough', two of them helping themselves to peanuts, and the (fem?) Lesser Spot was inspecting some old poles for lunch.