With rain forecast from around 10:00 today Roger and I were not hopeful
in getting much birding in but went to Thornton where I was hoping to catch up
with a Cattle Egret that has been present since the end of January.
We arrived on site just after 07:30 and after parking walked the short
distance to view the field the egret had been frequenting. There was a light breeze and it was feeling
quite cool after an overnight frost but on reaching the gate there was no sign
of the egret. With still no sign we went
back into the village to access a footpath where we could see into the field a
little better but there was still no sign of the egret but we did see a single
Fieldfare and thirty-five plus Redwing and heard both a Great Spotted and Green
Woodpecker. We moved along the footpath
several times and I was beginning to think that I was going to be unlucky when
we picked up the Cattle Egret flying in from the northwest. I continued flying across the field and
disappeared behind some houses. We
decided to go and see if we could see into the field from near the houses it
had disappeared behind. As we walked
back Mike Snow arrived and he then came with us but as we walked down St.
Peter’s Drive I saw it flying again and so we went back to our original vantage
point. There was no sign so we went to
the footpath again and another birder who was coming away informed us that it
was in a field with a horse. The horse
field was to the right and we could see it from the style but decided we would
be better to go down the field to see if we could see it through the
hedge. Has it happened it was close to a
gap in the hedge and I managed to get a few shots off before it flew again and
landed further along the hedge. Although
we could see it through the hedge it wasn’t possible to get any better shots
and Roger and I decided we would go Kelham Bridge for a Willow Tit. There had been a few showers during our stay
and it was raining quite a bit when we set off for Kelham Bridge.
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
When we arrived at Kelham Bridge the rain was rather persistent, but it
isn’t too far to the hide and we were soon in the hide observing the
feeders. There was a constant coming and
going of Blue & Great Tits and six Long-tailed Tits also made frequent
visits. There were three Robin and three
Dunnock feeding under the feeders and a Great Spotted Woodpecker also made
several visits. A single Marsh/Willow Tit made a brief visit, which we assumed
would be a Willow Tit. However, when it
made a second visit there was no sign of any pale panel in the wing and on
subsequent visits I paid attention to the bill and saw a pale spot near the
base of the upper mandible, indicating that it was a Marsh Tit. It eventually disappeared and when it hadn’t
returned after some twenty minutes we called it a day.
Our next target was Mandarin Duck at Blackbrook Reservoir and when we
parked the rain had eased slightly but as we walked along the track to the
bridge it started to rain heavy again.
When we reached the bridge, I scoped the shore and found two males and
two female Mandarin Ducks and a Little Egret.
We didn’t hang about too long as it was still raining rather heavily and
we were getting rather wet and getting back to the car we decided to call it a
day and headed off home.
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