Sunday 9th. December 2012

Since finishing the berries on the Rowan tree , the Waxwing flock seems to have disappeared , with no reports locally of their where abouts and things have gone very quiet . I had a quick visit to Hayes Farm during the week , but found nothing of interest  . Yesterday morning I thought I would have another try for Brambling and got to Bough Beech early . It's strange visiting at this time of year and not finding Winter Thrushes in the orchard , but the cold , wet Spring put paid to pollination , so there is no fallen fruit to attract them . The main feeder in the orchard was busy , but once again no sign of Brambling , and I don't think I saw one last Winter either . When the sun appeared , I took up a position where I could watch the Kingfisher posts and also another small feeder . Needless to say ,

the feeder was much busier than the posts , with Blue , Great , Marsh and Coal Tits all visiting , but the last two making sure that they visited a port out of sight of the camera . There was also plenty of

activity below the feeder , clearing up the seed tossed away by the Coal Tit and the Goldfinches , which seemed to have favourites amongst the mixed seed . One particular Goldfinch was quite happy

to stay feeding with me standing 5 mtrs. away , unlike others that 'grabbed and flew' . The Kingfisher , like the Brambling failed to appear , but just beyond the posts , a Mute Swan spent quite

some time preening , making sure that every feather was in it's place . Eventually I got down to the causeway , to find that a lot of water had been pumped in from the River Eden since my last visit , meaning that there was no exposed mud on the North Lake , or at the causeway end of the main reservoir , the water already into the surrounding woods , and consequently not much to be seen close to the causeway . Plenty of GCGrebes and Coots out in the middle and Geese down the far end , and the only highlights were a brief glimpse of a redhead Goosander , way down the reservoir , just

before it too disappeared into the trees , and a drake Pintail , probably the one that was on the scrape previously , already in amongst the trees .
Today I did the Down House bird survey , recording just 13 species , but there was a raw NW wind blowing across the site . The visit did though afford a chance of a few Jay shots , one of two

recorded . The other one flew immediately , but this one stayed for a short time , but it would have

been better if the light had been better at the time . Only other interest found was the seed stalk of the most robust Violet Helleborine which is heavy with seeds and so far untouched by deer , so hopefully there will be more plants in years to come .
In our garden , the Callicarpa bush is getting bare of berries now , with both male and

female Blackcaps seen feeding several times through the day , but unfortunately when the berries finish , they will be off .