Tuesday 14th. February 2012

Overnight , much of the snow had thawed , given that we had a couple of heavy showers during the evening . The morning dawned gloomy , and that was how it was as I set off for South Norwood Country Park . On the way , I passed the only Holly tree that hasn't been stripped of it's berries . It is in the front garden of a house , overhanging the pavement , and the reason that most of it's berries are intact is that a pair of Magpies are making their nest in the top of it . So a game of cat and mouse is

going on , the Thrushes , like this one , trying to feed , and the Magpies seeing them off more often than not . It will be interesting to see how it pans out .The Country Park seemed quiet on my arrival , but for the second day running , I saw a Water Rail , and this time managed to get a long

distance shot as it searched for food in a small stream . Soon after , I met another birder , who informed me that if I was looking for the Woodlark , it hadn't been seen today , and as the majority of the Meadow Pipits , which it was feeding with , had gone , the Woodlark had probably gone too . I didn't know that it had been there , but as usual , I was one day late . I think that this Carrion Crow

might well have been telling me the same , given the noise it was making . In the area where the Woodlark had been seen , I found a few Meadow Pipits and three Reed Buntings , of which , this

female stayed just long enough for a shot . Even the lake didn't produce great interest , the only new addition seemed to be a pair of Mute Swans . About one third was open water , and with the thermometer reading 8C , although it didn't feel like it , the rest was thawing well . Just a single Brown Rat was seen crossing a path and disappearing into a ditch , seemed like it was going to be the highlight , until the two Mute Swans came together , or rather the cob rammed the pen from the side

like a destroyer ramming a submarine . Within seconds , the cob had submerged the pen , and when

she did reappear , his intent became obvious , gripping her neck in his bill . The act took seconds , and then began what I can only describe as a 'water ballet' , which reminded me very much of the

'weed dance' , performed by Great Crested Grebes . I thought it must have taken terrific energy for the GCGrebes to 'dance' on water , but for Mute Swans to do it , quite incredible . At the end of the

'ballet' , both birds slipped back down into the water . The pen paddled off and had a wash , I did not see any matches struck or tobacco smoke in the vicinity of the cob . Looking back at the 25 shots I took , they were all taken within the same 60 seconds . I did have a second look for the Woodlark on my

way back to the car , without success , finding just a few Fieldfare feeding on the ground in a brief sunny interlude , now that they have eaten all the berries on the site .
On the way home , I stopped off at a Little Owl site , but nothing was seen today . And speaking of

today , I think these two tiny ponies in a nearby paddock , had a pretty good idea of what day it was .