Saturday 9th February

A beautiful morning today. Sunny and clear but very cold, 0 degrees on my car as I pulled up by the water works at 9.30. Unfortunately I could only spare just over an hour today.

As I walked through the gate a Cettis Warbler called loudly and showed briefly to my right and several Goldfinch called as the flew over. I walked to the Millstream/Streamside Lake and the Red Head Smew was still there diving frequently. The air was full of bird song as I scanned Abbey Mead - nothing out of the ordinary here though. As time was short I retraced my steps and had several Redwing by the scrape including two that were chasing each other through the trees - probably pairing up.

Red Head Smew (heavily cropped as still distant)

I decided to drive around to Brooklands Lake car park and see if I could locate the Redpoll that has been seen here. No sign unfortunately but another Cettis sang loudly but typically remained hidden. I quickly scanned Brooklands but the light was against me.

Great Crested Grebe