Happy New Year!!
New Years day was a bit of a disappointment birdwise with only 12 species seen, my own fault as I didn't get off the sofa all day!!! 😁 So today we decided to head up to Warnham Nature Reserve near Horsham, mainly because it doesn't open until 10 so could justify another lay-in😲!! Although with the 1st weigh in of the New Year nudging 14 stone,6lbs,6ozs I possibly need to get off the sofa a bit more in the New Year!! BMI is 13stone 3lbs so some work to be done!!!! 😢 I blame eating my weight in Christmas Cake and Pudding!! So 100% when the cake is finished I'm gonna do something about it!!😱😂
We arrived about 10.15, I was expecting it to be busy, being a bank holiday, but wasn't to bad to start with, a quick look over the lake, lots of Black-headed Gulls, a couple of Mute Swans, a few Mallards and a few Tufted Ducks about the best of it, the first screen was quiet, though a few Greenfinches and Chaffinches were showing well along with the Blue and Great Tits and a visit by a group of Long-tailed Tits livened things up a bit!
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| Catkins a sign of Spring? 😲 Margie has captured the blue sky a rare sight these days! |
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| Margie's pic of the Lake |
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| Margie's pic of a Chaffinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Chaffinch |
We popped into one of the Lakeside Hides, a single Pochard, a Shoveller and a Great Crested Grebe the best of it, though a Kingfisher belting through was a good year tick even though it didn't stop for pictures😢
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| View of the lake by Margie |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| Shoveller |
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| Pochard |
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| Swan |
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| Tufted Duck by Margie |
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| And again |
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| Swans by Margie |
We headed into the main hide, loaded with feeders, their bill for bird seed must be horrendous!!😱 Loads of Blue and Great Tits, regular visits by Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Tits, couple of Song Thrush, a Redwing, 2 Reed Buntings, plenty of Chaffinches, a showy Wren and a small rodent with a red back!!
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| Marsh Tit, I'm not usually a fan of feeder pics, but this bugger was tricky to pin down! |
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| Robin, loads of these around the site |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Marsh Tit not on the feeder |
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| Another on that came from nowhere and landed straight on the feeder, Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Reed Bunting lit up by the sun |
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| Marsh Tit |
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| Wren |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Long-tailed Tits |
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| Rodent, not sure what sort! |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Marsh Tit |
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| Finally showed ok! |
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| Long-tailed Tit |
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| Female Reed Bunting |
Margie's pics below!
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| Greenfinch |
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| Pheasant, I keep telling her not to take pics of em, but she won't stop!! |
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| Moorhen |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Female Pheasant!! 😏 |
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| Magpie |
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| Squirrel |
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| Song Thrush |
Margie got some slightly better pics of the Rodent
From the hides the reserve loops through some nice wet woodland, couldn't winkle out a Woodcock or a Water Rail, but Margie found some impressive Fungi. Some of her pics below!
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| First Cows of the year!! |
Were a few birds about mainly Robins! But a nice Heron and a couple of Egyptian Geese stood out!
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| Egyptian Geese |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Heron |
We headed back to the centre, visits to the hides brought more of the same and the grebe was still on the lake though it had moved nearer the visitor center. Much quieter than other visits I have done at this time of year in the past, bird numbers seemed well down, didn't see a Siskin or Brambling, though I believe both were seen by others and no sign of any Redpolls at all!!
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| Great Crested Grebe |
My prediction that it would be busy came true back at the visitor center, so I had to forgo a slice of cake and a cup of coffee, probably not a bad thing in relation to my weigh in!!!😂😂
A nice walk around with some nice birds seen, good to get Kingfisher and Marsh Tit on the list early doors as can be tricky, total now stands at 40!!!
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