Bird News: Ibsley Water – black-necked grebe 1, shelduck 1. Ivy Lake– yellow-legged gull 1 adult.
A much better day today with sunshine, although not very warm in a cool easterly breeze. Nevertheless a red admiral was sunning itself in the car park and out of the wind it was quite pleasant. For various reasons I did not get far around the reserve today and so have rather little to report. It was noticeable that the bird feeders at the Centre seemed busier, with lesser redpolls once again on the nyger feeder. There were also good numbers of greenfinch on the seed feeder.
male greenfinch
The black-necked grebe was much closer to the Tern hide this morning, close to the end of the long shingle spit to the east, rather than near the north shore of the lake as usual. The a single drake shelduck with greylag on the spit was the first on the reserve since the summer, they are only occasional in winter here.
