Thursday January 4

I decided to spend a couple of hours at Arrow Valley Lake to try to add some species to my year list. It was a bit cloudy for photography, but as I have decided to submit photographs to the Patchwork Challenge site, I took some anyway.

The first new bird for the year was a species I didn't record last year (despite seeing a bird which probably was one, but which looked so strange that I decided it might have been a hybrid with Mallard rather than just a very late moulting immature male Shoveler). There was no doubt about the five Shovelers present today.

A male Shoveler

There were three drakes and two ducks.

The water level is very high and this included the little brook running along the eastern side of the lake. It was here I saw a Grey Wagtail, but unfortunately it disappeared quite promptly.

A scan of the lake revealed the usual species, including 13 Cormorants, 14 Great Crested Grebes, and 11 Coots. The next year-ticks were a wheezing Greenfinch, a screeching Jay, and a piping Bullfinch. I failed to actually see the first two, but I did track down four Bullfinches, and photographed the male.

Bullfinch

Although not a year-tick, two loudly calling Nuthatches were irresistible.

Nuthatch

Having completed a circuit of the pool I decided to head for the field beyond the car-park where a large flock of Black-headed Gulls had gathered. Unfortunately they were quickly flushed by dog-walkers, but I had the compensation of finding a pair of Mistle Thrushes, and about half a dozen Redwings.

Redwing

My final year-tick was a Common Buzzard which flew from trees near where I had parked.

No doubt 2018 will prove as difficult to see good species of birds on this patch as 2017 was. I am nevertheless up for the challenge.