19th January - Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

I had to be in Winchester first thing in the morning, so decided to go from there to Fishlake Meadows.  A first visit for the year, always a chance that the immature White-tailed Eagle may be about.  It was though a very miserable day, low overcast cloud with little wind to move things around, the perfect weather for the day the media were dubbing Blue Monday.

From the car par I walked around to the viewing point off the road.  Immediately I knew there was no eagle as the water was covered with roosting gulls.  Close in there was a a group of eleven Pochard, this consisted of eight males and three females.

The female looking quite drab in the gloom.

The origin of the name Pochard is unknown, but was applied to the group of diving ducks from the mid 1500's.

The light brightened a little to aid the female's appearance.

The males look smart with there brick red head, white eye and pale grey backs.

The other diving duck present was the Tufted Duck.  The males looking splendid in the monochrome conditions.

I walked down to Mercer Way to see if I could find any thrushes.  There was only a couple of Blackbirds about, but I did come across a pair of Bullfinches, the male showing nicely to brighten the gloom.

The name Bullfinch comes from their large head and stocky shape.  But this shape also gives us other local names such as Bull Spink, Bully and Bulldog that have been used in the past.  Other names point to the Bullfinch's love of eating the buds of trees, Bud Bird, Bud Finch and Bud Picker.

Walking back to the reserve there were several Chiffchaff along the canal path, difficult to photograph in the gloom as they chased small insects through the branches.

There are large groups of Alder trees along the Canal Path and in one there was at least fifty Siskin.  They could be seen hanging acrobatically as they fed on the seeds of the tree.  This is a male with the black head.

A female, lacking the bold markings of the male.

The male once more.

When there are large groups of birds other species appear and amongst the Siskin were several Long-tailed Tits and this Treecreeper, making its way up the trunk of one of the Alders.

I turned onto the central path and then waded for most of the way to the central screens.  I shouldn't have bothered, other than a few swans and calls of Water Rail, it was completely dead.

Resigned to the fact that the light and day wasn't going to get any better I made my was back.  As I walked I checked the flooded areas under the trees on both sides of the path hoping for a glimpse of Water Rail or Cetti's Warbler, but without success.  What I did come across was this Goldcrest that had just had a bath in one of the pools and was drying off on one of the higher branches.

Along with the Firecrest, the Goldcrest is the smallest bird in the United Kingdom.  The average weight being that of a twenty pence coin at around five grammes.  In order to retain body weight they have to feed constantly, especially so during the winter, so catching this one after a bath was rather special.

The gloom never lifted and it even started to rain.  It wasn't what I had hoped for, but I did manage to get some year ticks to boost my total.