Tuesday 19 January 2010

Adding a few common species.

With no rain today it seemed a good idea to try to add a few common species to my 2010 list.
A walk at Riverside Park where the recent thaw plus rain has caused extensive flooding produced Tufted Duck and male Pochard on the river; Meadow Pipit, LINNET, masses of Pied Wagtails,Teal, Black-headed Gulls and EGYPTIAN plus Canada Geese on the wet meadows; Gadwall, Shoveller, Great Crested Grebe and Herring Gull on the lake; plus Kestrel, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers but despite searching all the riverside Alders no sighting of any finches.
Coot were the most common occupants on the partly frozen lake.


The final location was a quick walk around Bookham Common also very damp underfoot. The first half hour was as quiet as the preverbial grave; the pond was frozen with a few Mallard and Moorhens utilising small areas of water protected by trees. Heading around the pond I heard and then located Coal Tits, TREECREEPER, Nuthatch and two MARSH TITs. In an adjoining wooded area I was surrounded by a large flock of Long-tailed Tits busily feeding overhead. Jays seemed to be lurking around every corner but as usual flew away as soon as I approached them. The final sightings were five BULLFINCH (3 males and 2 females) and a Kestrel. 
So here are the stats for 2010: Total sightings 94, of which only 55 seen in Surrey so far, and 22 garden visitors for January. Now just in case you are wondering I did capture a few more species with the camera but I will save these for a subsequent post.  FAB 

9 comments:

  1. Some good ticks from your visit Frank. Haven't caught up with Meadow Pipit, and Linnets yet. And your year list is steadily drawing away from mine lol

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  2. Hi Frank the year list is coming on great with some good species in there. At present I am on 74 but hope to nail a few more by the weekend. In response to your question there are no restrictions on access to any of the reservoirs down here. At Stithians there is also a watersports section for Windsurfers and canoeing and water sking,although these are restricted to certain areas.The others are big freshwater fishing areas due to the absence of rivers in the west of the county. The Res I failed to post is Argal Res at Penryn about four miles from Stithians, this is the most scenic Res in the County and hope to get there later this morning. If you want to see whats being seen in the county have a look at the local society website google CBWPS.
    Cheers Monty

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  3. Hi Frank,
    94 species already!! That's incredible, this was my number of sighting last year and you got it in one month! I guess we are living in different worlds ;-) Well done on all the new species you saw! I'm eager to see the additional pictures.

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  4. Wow - what a variety. Love the Coot shot with the reflection.

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  5. I'm nowhere near your list for the year Frank, but ive got one more than you for my Garden Count. ;-)

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  6. Keith. Far from the best January haul so far but I put that down to the poor weather and lack of travelling!

    Monty. Thanks for the the link and I'll definitely keep an eye on the site.

    Chris. You have quality and I'm just picking up quantity!

    Mona. The oversast conditions helped but I'm still not confident with the camera settings for these dark coloured species in a much lighter environment.

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  7. Warren. A day trip to the Kent coast might help! Based on previous years I don't hold out much chance of the garden list increasing by much apart from the odd flyover, but you never know.

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  8. Not a bad collection though Frank.

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  9. A very good list there Frank and a lovely reflection in the second photo.

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I hope you enjoyed your visit and I always appreciate your comments and feedback.

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