Birdwatcher’s Diary No. 28

Published on: 30 Jan, 2013
Updated on: 30 Jan, 2013

By Malcolm Fincham

On Tuesday, January 15, I heard reports of nine waxwings in the Guildford area, feeding on a ‘white berried rowan’ in someone’s front garden in Oakdene Road, Peasmarsh.

A waxwing feeding on white rowan berries.

Although I only had my small ‘bridge’ camera with me at the time, I was glad I made the effort to go. The waxwings however were being constantly harassed (and eventually evicted) by two mistle thrushes that had decided they were not willing to share their spoils. So I was fortunate to take a few pictures before they departed.

Waxwings in Peasmarsh.

Later that afternoon I decided to make the most of what was another rare sunny day and captured what I feel are my best pictures so far of our resident barn owl at Bowers Lock.

Barn owl near Bowers Lock.

By the middle of January, and a little later than I had predicted, the creeping cold fingers of winter finally began to caress, and by the morning of Friday, January 18, snow was falling from the sky, making driving conditions quite a challenge, especially on many of the minor back roads of Surrey.

A minor back road south of Guildford in the snow.

A very bleak and chilly walk under a snow-filled sky on the morning of  Sunday, January 20, along the towpath from Stoke Lock to Burpham didn’t bring me much in the way of photo opportunities. And as my pictures show, I may just have well taken them in black and white! However, as always, it was great to be out and at one with nature.

The towpath looking towards Stoke Lock.

A snowy Stoke Lake.

Probably my best sighting was seeing more than 20 common snipe. They were flying low over a field along with several lapwing that had all been disturbed by a kestrel as it flew over them. The had been feeding in the field across the river as I looked out towards Burpham Court Farm.

Common snipe near Stoke Lake.

Elsewhere on my travels in more rural areas and farmland south of Guildford, I noticed increasing amounts of redwing and fieldfare. They were feeding out in the fields and hedgerows in areas where the ground was still soft enough for them to find worms and invertebrates as the snow slowly started to thaw.

Filedfare in a field partially covered with snow.

I was pleased with a picture I managed to get of a bright-eyed and very bushy tailed fox as it also hunted, hoping for the chance of an easy meal.

Bright-eyed fox.

And with its bushy tail!

And I was also pleased to capture a picture of our smallest UK bird – the goldcrest. It is usually seen feeding in coniferous woodland areas, but this was one of many I’ve seen in the last few weeks flitting through the undergrowth in a more deciduous wooded area.

Goldcrest in the snow.

Many of these tiny critters are among the birds that make their way across the North Sea to winter in the UK along with their rarer close cousins, the firecrest. Unfortunately, and not for the want of trying, I have not be able to take an up-to-date picture of a firecrest, so I have included one I took a few years back. Note the large white stripe over its eye  – not seen on the goldcrest.

Firecrest. Note the large white stripe above its eye.

There have also been several more reports of waxwing sightings locally, in particular in and around the Guildford area, with 20 reported feeding on apples in a garden in Albury and another seven spotted in Onslow Village.

Also Brian, on his daily patrol at Unstsead sewage farm, had the fortune of spotting a bittern on January 19  – a first ‘on the deck’ for him at that location. Despite on-going breeding conservation work in reed beds  in East Anglia, the bittern, a bird of the heron family, still remains on the RSPB’s ‘red list’. And along with it being a very elusive bird, it remains a rare sighting in the Surrey area.

Blue tit on a feeder.

Last but not least, and to put a positive spin on the cold weather, it has been great for those with bird feeders to watch and even to get a few close-up pictures of the large variety and sometimes unusual feathered friends arriving in our gardens.

Blue tits in flight.

Great tit on a feeder.

‘Leucistic’ chaffinch.

One such picture e-mailed to to me of a curious looking bird was by a fellow enthusiast, who was puzzled by what it might be. Sometimes such pictures can be tricky to guess and I then have to consult a far more knowledgeable birdwatcher and reader of my reports. However, on this occasion my instant recognition of shape, size of beak and stance, etc, shouted out to me ‘Chaffinch..! ‘

As seen in the photo above, it does look most unusual. The washed-out colour is due to it being ‘leucistic ‘ – having a quite rare genetic lack of pigment which can occur not just in birds but in mammals and reptiles too.

Hen pheasants in a snowy lane. More wintery weather to come in February?

And finally, and with much hope of being wrong and not to be burned at the stake if my predictions are correct, I strongly feel that it’s not time to put one’s overcoat and thermals away just yet. There’s a good chance that in the next few weeks winter could well be back with a sting in its tail… So never mind ‘the Ides of March’, watch out for the ice of February!

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