This was our first wildfowl walk of 2024.

We met at the usual meeting place on the causeway. It was a very well attended walk with 20 hardy souls. Vaughan Ryall had volunteered to lead the walk for the first time, but you couldn’t tell as he led us like a consummate veteran.

The overwintering wildfowl – Goldeneye , Common Pochard and some Red Crested Pochard too - were soon spotted. The Wigeon as usual were being camera- and scope- shy. A flock of Siskins and a lone Goldcrest were next to show themselves. The young ones excelled with spotting and identification, with Sean spotting a Sparrowhawk high in the sky. A distant Great Spotted Woodpecker concluded the walk with some considerable aplomb, thanks to the young ones.

Here is a full list of species spotted:

Waterside Birds:

• Black Headed Gull

• Common Gull

• Common Pochard

• Coot

• Cormorant

• Goldeneye

• Great Crested Grebe

• Greylag Goose

• Grey Heron

• Herring Gull

• Kingfisher

• Lapwing

• Lesser Black Backed Gull

• Mallard

• Moorhen

• Red Crested Pochard

• Shoveler

• Tufted Duck

• Wigeon

Woodland birds:

• Blackbird

• Blue Tit

• Carrion Crow

• Chaffinch

• Collared Dove

• Goldcrest

• Goldfinch

• Great Spotted Woodpecker

• House Sparrow

• Jackdaw

• Magpie

• Pied Wagtail

• Redwing

• Robin

• Song thrush

• Siskin

• Woodpigeon

Raptors:

• Red Kite

• Sparrowhawk

Nilesh Dodhia