Cold. That's January but, January 1st 2024 was a glorious day.
Coal Tit
We walked up the usual path to the picnic bench, sat and shared our picnic with the Coal Tits and Robin, then wandered on to the first gate and it was a belter of a day, freezing but beautiful. We hardly saw any birds at all, no wonder, they had sense! :)
Coal Tit in the tree
I now carry a wee bag of mixed bird food and leave some at and near the bench itself then watch the Coal Tits and a Robin come in to feed.
It wasn't until January 9th that I started seeing a few more birds up here although the garden and feeders have been overrun.
A good start to my walk was a small group of Crossbills
I see 4.5 Crossbills
Female
Male
I think you know by now they're my bird I stalk now, always hoping for another close encounter like last year.
I think it's pretty safe to say there are always Coal Tits up at the reservoir, cracking, lively wee birds and fairly easily tamed to feed from your hand.
Very distant Great Spotted Woodpecker
I see and hear the woodpeckers on most walks, always nice seeing them. You can see in a few of these shots that the sky was pretty flat and grey which really doesn't make for great photos but, if it's all you've got to work with. ...
Distant Buzzard
Seems like everything is keeping its distance today and while I was watching that Buzzard, I spotted a Kestrel hunting.
Kestrel hovering
I love watching Kestrels, just don't get these shots very often and closer than this. As I got closer to the picnic bench, I could see the Robin waiting patiently for a snack.
Up at the top end I could see birds across the other side.
Robins are wonderful to photograph and I take every opportunity.
That shot is only trimmed to centre the bird, I do get that close.
Onward, through the gate.
I love this area for all the birds that can be seen, sometimes but, I need my head on a 360 swivel now, there can be so much going on. Across the other side of the water, there's often a few birds gathered there.
Distant female Goldeneye
Grey Heron & Mallard
I spotted a second Heron snuggled up on a fallen tree.
I could hear the sound of honking geese, a look up and ...
A small flock of Greylags heading Northish.
So I was on my way back down now, not a lot more seen, I don't mind that, it lets me get a good fast walk in rather then the slow wander on the way up. I did stop once on the drive back!
A flock of mixed Redwing and Fieldfares in a field and on the overhead wires but, they didn't hang around long when I stopped.
January 12th I was back up and there was a bit more going on.
Stonechat checking me out
Stonechat on Gorse
On through the first gate and the sun came out! A male Stonechat popped up onto the gorse for a few moments to have a look at me.
Stonechat on Gorse
You can see that the light had changed dramatically, which is always good.
I quite often see a Kestrel up here in different locations each time and today was no different, perched high in a tree she either didn't see me at first or didn't care.
I can't imagine she hadn't seen me, even though I was between two bushes, just busy looking.
Female Kestrel closeup
There was a GSW hanging off a dead tree near the picnic table.
He climbed up to the top, had a bit of a cleanup and good look around.
This is generally a good spot for the woodpeckers, plenty of dead tree trunks and cover to hide in, this is where I saw the Green Woodpecker a few times.
There are always Chaffinches around and this female was just sitting taking in the sun.
Heading back down to the car park I spotted a small flock of birds landing on the water on the other side and managed to grab a shot or two with the lens at full stretch.
Wigeon landing on the water
Wigeon landing on the water
I'd actually seen them up at the top of the reservoir but at long distance, well, further than this :)
Almost back down at the bottom end of the walk when I spotted..... another Kestrel female? The same one?
Either way, she didn't hang around this time.
Still standing in the same area, I spotted a wee Coal Tit foraging about in a pine, there are loads of them up here.
Coal Tit on the move
Now, around the dam area is where thew Common Gulls congregate before clearing off to nest somewhere and on this day, there was a frozen area on the water with a lot of gulls gathered on it so, I got a few shots of them and stitched them into a panorama.
Now, I haven't zoomed in to check every gull so there could be a Herring or two or ...... who knows? ;)
This isn't all of them either, there's usually 30 or more around the tower.
I visited again on January 16th and one thing I do remember is that it started snowing as I neared the top of my walk, it was a pretty dreich morning anyway and not a lot going on so I headed back down the road.
I definitely remember the Robin at the picnic bench allowing me real close when I dropped food for them all.
All of these shots have only been cropped to centre the bird, other than that, I had to lean back to focus :)
I spotted these Reed Bunting females on the deadwood break by the path.
There was a small flock of Bullfinches around and I managed to grab a few shots of them
Bullfinch baubles
Bullfinch female
Bullfinch male
My final spot of the walk was a female Kestrel, I'm beginning to see her a lot up here.
Female Kestrel in snow
It was snowing quite heavily as I got back to the car, nothing to worry about but who knows up here right?
I was back up on the 24th & 29th but got nothing worth sharing so, on to February.
