Tuesday 1st. January 2013

What with the weather and the festivities , trips out have been few and far between . But , even when I have got out , very little of interest was found at either Hayes Farm , Keston Ponds or South Norwood Country Park . The feeders in the garden had only been attracting the usual Greenfinches
























 and Goldfinches , until Christmas Day itself , when , whilst helping with the dinner , I noticed a smaller bird arrive with the Greenfinches , which turned out to be the first Siskin in the garden this
























Winter . Not the best of shots , but it was pouring and the light was really bad at the time . I kept my eyes on the feeders for the rest of the day , but the Redpoll didn't appear , nor the Brambling that I was hoping to arrive with the Chaffinches to feed on the path , but as Meatloaf didn't sing , 'One out of three ain't bad ' .
With the sun out this morning , I headed for Sevenoaks Reserve , and although chilly , it was good to be out again . A Bittern had been seen from Willow Hide on Sunday , so I headed straight there , checking out an almost birdless West Lake as I passed . On arrival , I dropped the flap to see what was about on Snipe Bog Lake , which was quite a good few species , but no sign of the Bittern . The most noticeable thing was the bitter wind that was blowing straight in off the lake . Seven species of duck were on view , the best being a pair of Wigeon , together with the usual three species of goose , two Grebes , Coots a plenty and Moorhens . Making my way down towards Long Lake , I tried , and failed miserably , to photograph a Goldcrest , but did manage a Song Thrush fossicking for it's

breakfast , whilst being over flown by two of the Mistle variety . No Kingfisher sightings , but the usual RRParakeets were occupying their usual space at the end of the track . Turning and heading

back towards the VC , four Mute Swans flew by and landed on the East Lake , three of them being juveniles , just starting to come into adult plumage . From Tyler Hide , a large gathering of Common and BHGulls , and tucked away in the gloom of one of the islands still to receive the rising sun , several Common Snipe . The islands down towards Tower Hide were occupied almost entirely by

Lapwing , and as I passed , they all decided to take off , and after a few circuits of the lake , return to

where they started from . Tower and Slingsby Hides produced very little , so it was back to the car park , still without any sign of a Siskin . The car park was now full , but I grabbed a few minutes in

Grebe Hide , managing to get a few shots of one of the Marsh Tits . Lots of Blue and Great Tits were

also coming to the feeders , along with a somewhat larger species , that made the others disappear .
48 species , nothing special , but it was good to be out in the sun .