2013. We're up and running.

The sun was shining and I actually saw a few quality birds this morning. It must be a new year. I called into the industrial estate in Hersden on my way to Grove but the Waxwing flock seems to of dispersed for the moment. I looked yesterday on a few occasions as well but never saw any. I made my way to the Feast hide and 30 minutes spent within revealed not a lot, a drake Wigeon about the only thing I can recall. Martyn Wilson and Sue Morton were in the hide when I arrived so a chat and catch up made up for the lack of birds. They had some Bewick's leave the reserve earlier on. We decided to drive round to the Stodmarsh end, stopping at the ramp bushes on the way out where 10 Waxwings had congregated. As you probably know the inter web has been flooded with Waxwing photos of late so I just watched them go about their business for a while, grabbing one photo as a bird flew overhead.

I left Martyn and Sue as they checked out the Alder wood and then walked down the Lampern wall while I sat in the Reed Bed Hide for an hour or so where I was joined by Tim Gutsell. As with the earlier visit to the Feast hide, there was not a great deal to see, the normal wild fowl with a Shelduck on the Tern raft. Two Kestrels and a female Sparrow hawk were seen out over the main lake and 3 Marsh Harriers were quartering the reed beds. The highlight of the morning was a Bittern seen flying low over the reed bed out in front of the hide with a Hen Harrier in hot pursuit. The Bittern crashed down into the reed bed to escape the Harriers attention, the Harrier remaining in a hover over the spot where the Bittern had disappeared, intent on not letting its quarry off the hook so easily. After a while the Harrier gave up and started chasing Teal and Mallard around the main lake. Looking at the photos I think it is an adult female but if anyone thinks different please let me know. After the Hen Harrier had enough of causing mayhem in amongst the ducks it flew off behind the hide and the Bittern came out of the reed bed landing to the right of the hide before flying out again, across the front of the hide and west towards Collards. It was quite a spectacle to watch and I think maybe the Hen Harrier was lucky to lose the Bittern given the considerable damage the Bittern could cause with its huge feet and heavy large bill. Not a great number of birds seen in total, I suppose my year list if I did one would be on about 34. Pathetic really, but the quality and action was top notch.