Friday 1st. January 2016

Firstly , a happy New Year to all .
The tail end of the old year failed to produce an upturn in sightings , so just a picture catch up on the few that were found , mostly in very poor light conditions .

The first of two visits to Bough Beech Reservoir found this Little Egret in the Oast Stream , running

into a very quickly filling reservoir , on the distant bank of which , was a female Goosander dozing ,

and her mate doing like-wise on the water . In the surrounding woodland , a Goldcrest searching for

food and a female Bullfinch that just allowed a single shot before disappearing . On the second visit ,

just a single Common Buzzard over the Visitor Centre , before being driven off by the local Corvids , but at least the sun had come out .
A visit to Sevenoaks Reserve finally managed to get a Siskin in the viewfinder , a male , before the

end of the year , along with a Redwing , one of a small flock , a species that has been really hard to

find this winter . From Willow Hide , a flash by from a Kingfisher and winter plumaged Great

Crested and Little Grebe , were all that were worthy of mention .
With Bearded Tit and Cetti's Warbler being seen at South Norwood Country Park , I made a first visit to try and find both . Another sunny period did not help when the Beardie finally came into view , as

the bird landed between the camera and the low winter sun , so an almost silhouette was achieved . No luck with the Cetti's , but I did see the back end of a Water Rail in the little stream and a Grey

Wagtail posed briefly , for once in a tree . On my way out , I managed to get unusually close to a

Rose-ringed Parakeet , before it flew off , squawking noisily . Yesterday , before visitors arrived , I

had another try , again failing with the Cetti's , but managing to get the Beardie in better light . Having seen a shot of the Cetti's taken yesterday afternoon , I made another attempt this morning , before going visiting this afternoon . I dipped for a third time , but was compensated by four Lesser Redpolls .I had just got them used to my being there and they were feeding happily , when a runner in

a fluorescent top came round the corner , and that was the last I saw of them . Around the site , there

must have been a dozen Song Thrushes in full song , this being one , and the back end of another Water Rail was also spotted .
And finally , when Carol brought her washing in off the line the other day , she spotted what she thought was a young Ladybird on one of the towels . It is a 2-spot Ladybird / Adalia bipunctata , just

about half the size of a 7-spot ,  and one of four forms that this species can be found in .