Friday 27 January 2012

Maple Lodge and Maple Cross birding

Met Tony Hulls at  Maple Lodge around 10 .00HRS ,not much on the feeders today,although sunny
it was colder today,done a circuit of the reserve starting from the Rotunda hide where the phragmites
revealed little ,moving on through the Alders a few Siskins obliged.
From the Teal hide all was quiet ,but on reaching Long Hedge a skein of Teal were flushed by a pair of foxes.The Teal looked splendid in winter plumage.
A single Egyptian goose on Lynsters before strolling back to the Club house,where we decided to view a local woodland where possibly Red kite attempted to breed.
We scanned the local woodland looking for a nest which local birder Christine Bessant had found last
year,the nest was still intact with sheeps wool for good measure.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Back in the Saddle

Well the weather has been unpredictable and I have a mission to photograph birds on some new
feeders for the Nuttery,so sun shine prevailed for an hour or so today at Maple Lodge.
A lot of great tits arrived with a few blue tits ,ring necked parakeets were screaming above but
not coming to the feeders.
After an hour I decided to have a quick walk around the reserve bumping in to Tony Hulls,then from the
Sluice good views of Kingfisher,then a Buzzard over .Sparse numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing.
But on Lynsters 5 Egyptian Geese with Greylags.
Two Foxes from Long Hedge doing their rounds and on the way home a Red Kite it now seems evident
they bred in Maple Cross.