karen's country calendar

9am and I sat down at the table in the Conservatory to do this years Big Garden Birdwatch, and set the laptop up so I could watch yesterdays episode of Winterwatch at the same time - was going to say killing two birds with one stone but I dont think that is quite appropriate in these circumstances!  First, up in the trees were 6 woodpigeon and 6 greenfinches , so that was the total score for them though  some did also visit the bird feeders during the hour. A magpie then joined them and the finches flew off. I had to wait 10 minutes before any birds came on the feeders and to my surprise, they were two house sparrows !  In the past 30 years I have never had any in the garden, although they have been seen on the roof tops,  and this was the second time I had seen them visiting the garden in the past couple of weeks so a big tick for two of those. It was quite breezy so I wondered if that would make a difference to visiting bird but soon there was some fluttering and movement

 I had a delivery to do in Grafham so took the opportunity to take a walk along the dam at Grafham Water as you never know what might turn up! My first bird was a pied wagtail ..tick.  then I caught sight of a wader in the distance which I soon identified as a redshank running in and out of the waves as they broke on the shoreline.   I was surprised to see a large group of about 20 goldeneye swimming a short distance away from the shore but as I watched they suddenly disappeared... then  appeared again.  As I neared  the group I realised they were all in fact diving under the water together, then all surfacing at the same time. This was repeated time and  time again.  I also photographed what I assumed to be just another grebe but later discovered it was in fact the great northern diver which had been seen there recently. I hadnt known about it and certainly didnt expect to see one! An unexpected bonus! I seem to be getting in a habit of this! So another 4 ticks plus a buzzard on the w

 A cold morning was the perfect time to visit my local reserve to see what I could add to my rather small list so far for 2022 and especially since I had heard a black necked grebe had been seen there. I decided to walk round the southern side first as that was was nearer the island where the ducks seem to shelter.  I came to the opening where I knew there was a good view and asked a birder who  was already standing with his  scope  if he had seen the grebe. He hadn't so I just scanned the island with my binoculars and took a few zoomed in photos as I have found  that I can  sometimes identify birds from photos which I havent been able to from  my binoculars. I noticed a little grebe bob up not far from the  shore which I was pleased with as this small grebe often evades me. Further round the lake I came across a group of birders also looking for the black necked grebe and had managed to spot it in  their telescope.  They kindly let  me have a look and I was able to make out a smal

 My first chance for a new year outing so I decided to visit a new reserve for me, Kingfishers Bridge Nature Reserve.  My first sighting however, was well before I arrived when I came across a field of Whooper Swans feeding.  On arrival at the reserve I was shown by a warden where to start my walk round the reserve and soon found my way to The  Mound where a platform had been constructed overlooking the main lake.  There were plenty of ducks and geese visible but without a telescope it wasn't possible to identify all the ducks so I could only make out mallards and shovelers definitely.  I had heard there were pink footed geese on the reserve but they were very hard to tell apart from the more common greylags. I continued my circular walk and added a little egret and marsh harrier to my list as well as the usual garden varieties together with the resident Konik ponies and water buffalo which help to manage the landscape. Unfortunately there were no hides to sit in and watch and it w