Friday January 12

It's been a brilliant week on this patch.

Things began slowly as a dusk walk around Ipsley Alders added only a Goldcrest to my year list. I had a sneaky tramp around the marshy bits but flushed nothing. It is still the case that the only Snipe I have seen there is a painting of one on the noticeboard advising people of what to expect to see !

The following day things picked up when I glimpsed the Fieldfare which had taken ownership of the apples in our garden before Christmas, as it flew out of a tree in the close. The following day Lyn reported seeing it back in the garden while I was at work.

On Thursday a daylight walk to the paper shop produced a mini Eureka moment when I saw first one, and then another two Hawfinches in Costers Lane. Having had no sightings since Dec 27, I had virtually reconciled myself to the thought that they had moved on. Later in the day I added a Pied Wagtail to the list.

Now we come to the really good day. I dragged myself out of bed early so that I was at Arrow Valley Lake not too long after it got light. A Stock Dove was peering at me from trees in the carpark. My plan had been to get to the reedbed where I had heard a Water Rail and had seen a substantial Reed Bunting roost back in 2006. A single Reed Bunting popped out, but that was it.

However, I hadn't gone far around the lake when a Little Egret flew into a tree right next to the path. The light was terrible but I couldn't resist getting the camera out.

Little Egret

A quick scan of the lake revealed two patch ticks. A Wigeon and a Barnacle Goose. I could also see seven Shovelers, a similar number of Great Crested Grebes, and 32 Mallard.

I hurried to a spot where I might get a couple of record shots.

Barnacle Goose

Wigeon

The goose is obviously feral, and was with a small party of Canada Geese, but the Wigeon was a proper wild visitor from the north. I later saw it fly off, and also failed to relocate the goose flock. Satisfied with my haul, I put my camera away. The light remained terrible. A Treecreeper then sang from the trees bordering the lake, and I continued my circuit.

Things were about to get even better.

I had got about half way along the east side of the lake, when a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker flew silently onto the back of a sapling by the path. OMG, this was the first one I'd seen anywhere for over a decade. I scrabbled to get the camera out of my bag, and watched helplessly as the tiny woodpecker flew back into the tangle of branches beyond. I could still see it though and I managed a couple of absolutely terrible record shots.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (centre of shot)

L S Woody -left of centre between two clumps of dead leaves

I'm really sorry about the crap photos, but the bird kept flipping from place to place. At around this point I gained another year-tick as a Water Rail squealed from the reedbed. Then, to my horror, the woodpecker, which had been coming closer again, suddenly took off and flew north over the trees and out of sight.

I spent a fruitless 30 minutes trying to relocate it, seeing 21 Siskins in the process. But as the woodpecker had not called at all during the whole period of observation, I reluctantly gave up and continued my walk.

Little else was seen by the time I had returned to the car-park, but this was probably my most memorable visit to Arrow Valley Lake since I twitched an Eider in the 1990s.