The Water Meadow Willow

Starting out on the near side of the Pit Tip, I heard the Song Thrush in the same area as yesterday. A Green Woodpecker was at the top of a small nearby tree as I approached to find the Song Thrush, and a Robin was at the top of a nearby gorse bush.

I carried on to the Dunvegan Drive entrance and down the lane seeing many Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, three Starling, a single House Sparrow and a single Wren. I met a more experienced birder walking his dog and he gave me a few tips on seeing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Big Wood near the three ranger-created ponds and around the Bestwood Lodge. Around the farm paths there were plenty of Redwing and a Sparrowhawk (a female, I think) was hunting low in the bushes. I heard another Song Thrush behind the houses on the Sustrans path to the Mill Lakes.

A Greylag Goose flew off as I walked down to the lake. Another was on Tern Island with a Cormorant, whilst another Cormorant flew around, eventually landing on Tern Island too. I think most of the usual residents were around, but didn't spend too much time looking today. I caught sight of a group of Pochard and then a possible small group of Teal/Gadwall, but didn't get chance to make a positive ID, as they were at the far side of the lake, where there's better cover.

On the main path along the side of the marshy area one of the regulars with some bins was looking up in the trees. Said he was looking at Goldfinch, and sure enough there was a flock of six or more moving through the trees. I watched them for a couple of minutes after he'd left and picked out some streaked pale cream/brown birds with a yellow/greenish head marking. I thought these might have been a Siskin, and tried to capture some footage for later ID. Unfortunately it was against a bright sky, so only the silhouettes could be seen. Despite the time of year, I didn't rule out the possibility of it being a juvenile Goldfinch, so without anything better to go on, I left it at that.

Near the Leen Pastures I found my bird of the day in the form of a calling Willow Tit at the river's edge, which didn't hang around long enough for me to get any footage. I also saw a single Dunnock up here (a juvenile, I think), more Redwing, lots of Long-tailed Tit and more of the other two common tits. There were quite a lot of Bullfinch around today, I managed to see a pair alongside the river, two females at the Leen Pastures gate, and another pair on my way back to the lake. I was hoping for a better chance of Redwing and Bullfinch footage at least, but cut the trip short to catch a lift home with the family.

My first Willow Tit since the start of recording gave another patch tit, and a count of 32 species made for a reasonable trip.