Thursday 18 December 2008

It was back to the cloudy, damp, and dull weather today, and the fact I had to leave work half an hour later this afternoon meant that the light was too poor to take my camera out.
A trip over to the lake area was a must, after what turned up yesterday, and I only briefly scanned the wet woods as I passed through, as I was eager to the water, saying that, I did notice quite a few SISKIN feeding in the tops of the alder tree's there. Nearing the lake, I again passed the gardener of the large house that sits beside one of the lakes, I was talking to him whilst at the same time looking over his shoulder at the ''tidied lake''. I could see the female GOLDENEYE again! I pointed it out to the gardener, and explained the status of the bird to him, to which he replied, oh! yes that's been there all day, it was with two small, almost white ducks, early this morning!!! What have I missed! Male Goldeneye ? perhaps male Goosander, maybe even a male Smew! DOH! Why do i have to go to work.
Anyway, I carried on to the main lake, and was pleased to see the COOT had also remained, but there was no Goosander today. I had several good glimpses of the KINGFISHER, and the usual MALLARD and MOORHEN were around. A flock of some 48 REDWING flew over, as did several groups of FIELDFARE, but only in two's and three's. I stayed around until it got almost dark, and apart from a few more Mallards dropping in, nothing else of note was seen. I kept an ear out for a Tawny Owl as I walked through the woods on the way home - but still no luck!

PS. Directions for for anyone wanting to help in the Barn Owl box erection. -
pass through hadlow village square, in the direction of Tonbridge, carry on for about a mile, until you reach the Rose revived pub on your right. There is right a turning here into Ashes lane, carry on down the lane for about 3 qaurters of a mile, and you'll see the large greenhouse complex on your right. This is where we will meet at 1:30 ish, you can park here easily.

3 comments:

Stewart said...

Great day yesterday Warren. Those white ducks today were Smew. Deffo. :)

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
Some terrific birds today. I hope you catch up with the "White Ducks"Wouldn't it be great if they were Smew(my fav wildfowl,one of my top 5 birds)Do you have a top 5 birds Warren? Good luck with the erection of the owl box on Sunday.

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Have I missed something special in the optic world ?
A deffo ID of male Smew from 300 + miles away ! Amazing .
See you 13.30ish Sunday .