My second English Winter Bird Survey visit to my Lyminster square was so enjoyable. It was a fine winter's morning and I recorded 47 species. When I got to the muddy cattle field at Broomhurst Farm, I was pleased to see the
Cattle Egret was still there with a
Little Egret but moving slightly further north, I was surprised to find an additional seven
Cattle Egrets feeding in a meadow! At one point all eight birds joined up. It is tempting to speculate that these may be some of the birds that were based a Sidlesham earlier in the month. A roosting
Little Owl, two
Marsh Harriers and two
Stonechats were new sightings for the square for me, and other notables included two
Treecreepers, a
Reed Bunting, two
Meadow Pipits, 70
Redwings, a
Mistle Thrush, three
Skylarks, 50
Wigeon and two
Red-legged Partridges.
 |
| Cattle Egrets at Lyminster |
 |
| Little Owl at Lyminster |
 |
| Marsh Harriers at Lyminster |
I squeezed in a couple of hours in the Cowdray Forest at Pease Pottage on the way up to Sutton for a brief visit to the family. A singing
Crossbill was very audible in a stand of conifers but couldn't be seen and the odd
redpoll and
Siskin was glimpsed, but I couldn't locate any sizeable flock like during my last visit. A
Bullfinch, 10
Redwings, 20
Fieldfares, two
Mistle Thrushes, a
Treecreeper, two
Nuthatches and three
Marsh Tits were among the other birds logged.
For something entirely different, I caught up with Josh Burch for a bit of river dipping in Abinger Hammer for the last hour of light. We fished out some interesting stuff for a quick look, including a River Lamprey, two Bullheads, a Three-spined Stickleback and a juvenile Rainbow Trout. Two
Grey Wagtails, a
Nuthatch, a
Coal Tit and a fly-over
Mute Swan were logged while we caught our feet wet.
