Date: 20th December 2024
Time: from 11:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 3°C to 4°C
This was my first visit to the site since 29th November 2024 and I wasn’t intending on going out so late in the morning. Predictably, being so late, it was very quiet with even the common resident birds proving to be elusive.
However, that suddenly changed when I inadvertently flushed 2 Woodcock from a wooded/scrub area in the northern section of the site. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or the birds!
This was my first record of Woodcock for the site taking my total number of bird species recorded to 67. It also means that I have recorded 49 species during 2024, the highest year count since I started visiting the site regularly in 2021.
Woodcock is not an uncommon bird but it can be difficult to locate. Given this morning's sighting, I am now wondering how many other wintering birds may be hidden away in quiet areas of the site.
Other highlights during
my visit this morning included c.5 Redwings in bushes at the entrance to the track
down to the A127, a single Goldcrest with a mixed tit flock along the track
itself and a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker in the same area.
In addition, I saw a Red Fox basking in the sun in the northern section of the site and 3 individual Grey Squirrels at various locations across the site.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Woodcock
Red Fox
Site totals for 2024 to date (2023 totals in brackets):
Birds = 49 (47)
Total species list for the site
Birds = 67
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