Saturday 7th January (From Bedsbirds)

THE 100 ACRE FIELD, NORTH OF BREDFORD SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS (TL 082 503)

The gravel pits yielded 1 Little Grebe, 6 Mute Swans (4 first-years), 6 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon, 1 Pochard, 11 Tufted Duck, a Little Grebe and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, with the geese flock comprising of 178 Greylag, 96 Atlantic Canada and the single adult and unringed PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. Passerines included single Skylark and Song Thrush.

Per Lee Evans (Full report of his day birding in Bedfordshire here)

Pinkfoot

Pinkfoot: Pinkfoot with 104 Greylags and 102 Canada Geese at Meadow Lane GP, Bedford around 1.15pm today. 20 (twenty) Grey Herons together at nearby Octagon Farm GP. (Per Martin Palmer)

Monday 2nd January

I made an early visit this morning arriving well before first light. The main Jackdaw roost may have moved to Kings Mead, at least it was there this morning before decamping to Fingers at around 07:25. It was quite a noise as they all moved across.

I found 8 Little Egrets at the north end of the Spit viewable from the east side of Fingers. Most of them left at 07:45 but the final one hung around until 08:05.

The Fingers Mute Swans evicted a couple Swans that made the mistake of landing on their lake. One of the interlopers was orange 989 who almost crashed into the Crescent rather than the lake, and probably wished it had by the time the resident pair had finished with it. The 2 eventually escaped by walking across to the Beach where a couple of dogs almost finished the job!

I met up with DK and we walked around Fingers and the main lake. A Grey Wagtail along the Canoe Slalom and a couple of Snipe on Fenlake were the highlights of the morning. Gadwall, Pochard, Tufted Ducks, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon, Lapwing and Kingfisher were all present as usual.