Well thats the end of what seems like the longest month of the year. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to wish the year away but nothing really seems to happen in the month of January. In the dark months of winter one thing that has been keeping the nature bothering senses going is the birds, and to be honest I've quite enjoyed birding and hopefully learnt a whole load along the way.
One place that is full of life in winter is Farlington Marshes, a place Im lucky enough to call work. On Tuesday I finally caught up with the Spoonbill, in close quarters on the stream in the centre of the reserve and then a day later I saw the same bird joined by another.
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| Farlington Spoonbill shorty after awaking from a snooze |
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| Spoonbill - suspected Juv plumage (abundance of black within the wing) |
On later discussions we thought this bird I managed to get some snaps of was a young bird while the other bird it seems to hang around with is an adult. Only other exciting thing of note was seeing another Marsh harrier hunting the reed beds on the marsh. The most commonly sighted harrier on site has been the strikingly marked male but the bird I saw on Tuesday was a female. Could this be a start of something beautiful....? Could this be a breeding pair later in the year?
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| Goldcrest in Beechcroft Garden |
The weekends weather prevented any bird ringing to take place but we did manage to squeeze in a quick lunchtime session at the office on friday. We caught 4 birds (well technically 5 but I let the chaffinch slip through my fingers after extraction - less said about that the better). Goldcrests were in great numbers for such as short session, three new birds in total, and a new Coal tit.
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| Coal tit in Beechcroft Garden |
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