Sunday 18 December 2016

Banstead Woods, 18th December 2016

Still feeling like boiled death but averse to the idea of staying in all day, I went for a quick circuit around the outer footpaths of Banstead Woods this morning. I'm glad that I did as a flock of 45-50 redpolls was chattering away in a stand of birch trees near the Harholt Plantation. Perhaps my favourite finches, having gatherings of these characterful little birds makes local birding in winter much more enjoyable and good numbers haven't really been experienced since 2011 as far as I recall. Hopefully more will come, or at least numbers will remain around this level and so will a decent possibility of a rarer form among them. With thick fog again and no telescope, it was impossible to pick out any Mealies today.

Lesser Redpolls