A house full of mums and children isn't an ideal environment to be writing a thesis in, so I took the afternoon off for a walk to the Mill Lakes via the Pit Tip. The weather looked quite promising with some sunny spells at the start of the afternoon, but this would change later on as it became overcast with patches of light rain.
The Pit Tip was pretty much deserted in terms of people, but the birds were hiding too. The first Meadow Pipit I've seen in a while looked very green in the odd winter sunlight. It perched on top of a fence post at the top of Farmer Fox's Cow Field for a good while, but not long enough for a clumsy DigiBin photo. A couple of Jay were screeching and flying about the Pit Tip Plantation, and a single Green Woodpecker was at the far side, reducing its chances of being seen. A single Sparrowhawk was hunting high above the Pit Tip Top, and at Dawson's Corner heading towards the Substrans, plenty of Redwing were babbling away as usual. Further along the Substrans, a pair of Bullfinch were showing well.
Arriving at the Mill Lakes, a single Grey Heron was near the bridge, which I saw again later roosting in one of the trees on an island. I counted circa 150 Black-headed Gull, which was my highest count to date. At the north end of the lake a group of Teal (5 male and 3 female) were around the Mud Island, which also showed at least four of the elusive Common Snipe.
Heading on to the Leen Pastures didn't prove too productive, with barely anything more than a single Willow Tit at the feeding station table. Perhaps due to the fact that both of the two feeders were empty, but more likely due to the dull rainy weather that the day was ending with. In all, 33 species was a reasonable number for a few hours, which included a few additions to my year list so I can't complain.
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