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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brianfm" data-source="post: 1395977" data-attributes="member: 11997">31st Jan.  The forecast had been for a bright, but cold day.  Sadly the forecaster had appeared to forget about the strong winds!  At the sea front, on the cliffs, this meant that one had to struggle to stay upright so the use of a telescope was pretty much out of the question.  However I had the pond and wood to check out prior to reaching the coast.  In the event I chose to skip the coast, the sea was as rough as I have seen it for some time and I assumed bird life would be limited.  Instead I had my lunch of fish and chips, much needed today, and retraced my steps back through the woods to my starting point.The day had begun well with a female Brambling which continues to feed near the reserve hide.  There may be some concern about Greenfinch numbers generally, but there is no shortage in this particular area and they monopolised the feeding station.  Other birds noted there were Pheasant, Moorhen, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Robin and Chaffinch.  Birds on the pond were Mute Swan, Grey Heron, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Coot and Moorhen.  Having managed the muddy path ways I checked out the distant fields for geese and found that the large flock of Pink Footed Geese (several 100) remained.  Around one hundred of these geese occasionally lifting into short and low flights.  We found that the remains of the dead Fox were still around, although there was nothing much left of them now.  If I had had a plastic bag with me in my back pack I may have been tempted to pick up its pallet and teeth to take home.  As it happened I resisted the temptation.  The Gorse Ulex europaeus is beginning to show more flower.The shelter of the dene and woodland brought relief from the winds and we took an alternative route today which runs on the opposite side of the burn and gives an entirely different perspective of the area, this path at times running parallel to, but high above the burn.  It was quite a tiring walk on deep mud paths which rise and fall on a number of occasions.  I can’t remember the paths being this muddy before, from almost start to finish of the walk.  I heard the small passerines calling excitedly just before a female Kestrel flew in front of us.  We watched this bird closely as it landed on one or two dead tree stumps before pouncing upon something on the ground before seeming to eat it.  I heard the male Kestrel ee ee ee call before it to flew out of the bushes in front of us.  There were large numbers of Long tailed Tits once again with Great Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit. Nuthatch, Treecrepper, Robin, Wren Dunnock, Blackbird, Greenfinch and Chaffinch.  Corvids, Wood Pigeon and Collared Doves were about in number too and Pink Footed Geese flew overhead.  We also found a lone Grey Wagtail, not as yet paired up it seemed and a lone Eider Duck high up the burn.  It was add to see the Eider Duck this far from the sea and I assumed the winds may have had some effect here.We were greeted at the end of the woodland by a very good sighting of Sparrowhawk.  We had seen from distance a bird fly up from the ground into the bushes and we waited to see if it would appear again.  It was the Sparrowhawk which flew along the hedgerow before eventually disappearing out of sight.  There were numbers of Goldfinch in the area and we found a single Redshank on the saltmarsh.We always look for the Kingfisher along the burn and despite walking this stretch umpteen times over the past couple of years we have never heard or seen this bird.  I’ve decided that Kingfishers no longer frequent this area despite being told to look on the lower part of the burn below the sluice and bridge.  Hopefully the species will return in the future.As I mentioned above we did a return walk today but took a slightly different path on return.  I’m pleased to say we found the Eider Duck swimming down the burn and towards the sea and we found the lone Grey Wagtail again.  We stopped for a long chat with a guy taking photographs of woodland birds and I found he knew a friend of mine.  He claimed to have recorded the first Little Auk to be found on the reserve pond in 2008 during the very stormy weather of late spring.  There was no new bird species until we retuned to the hide and were able to watch a female Great Spotted Woodpecker at length and also find a lone Curlew in the fields.  By now the air was even colder than when we had set of and the light was beginning to fade under thickening cloud.  It had been a good day despite the shortening of the walk and the winds.  I recorded 45 bird species.</blockquote>

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