Monday 16th. January 2012

-5C was the reading on the car thermometer as I pulled off the drive this morning , heading for Sevenoaks Reserve . The temperature did thankfully rise to 1C by the time I arrived , but it certainly was a shock stepping out of a warm car into the cold . I made straight for Willow Hide following East Lake which was almost completely free of ice but it was a different story at Snipe Bog Lake , which was frozen over apart from around the island and small areas along the far bank , all of which were bathed in the bright Winter sunshine . That sunshine had not yet reached the reedbed favoured by the Bittern , nor was there any sign of it . The area of open water to the left of the island held a good number of Coot , argumentative enough normally , even more so when all couped up in such a small area . Constant squabbling encouraged some to get away , which meant a long slippery walk

over the ice , and they became prime candidates for John Cleese's Ministry of Funny Walks . A flock of Canada Geese decided to vacate the far corner of the lake , to head for the fields behind , and two

of the flock gave a display of synchronised flying that would grace the Olympics , the timing of the rest of the flock was awful . With all extremities getting very cold , I only just managed to fire off a

few shots of a passing juvenile Cormorant , but when a Kingfisher flew by , almost touching the ice , I couldn't even feel the button to operate the shutter . Still no sign of the Bittern and the sun was now touching the tops of the reedbed , but I needed to walk around and warm up . A look at Long Lake

only produced a trickle of Lapwing overhead , they too heading for the fields . Both GCGrebe nest sites on East Lake were quiet , not surprising given the temperature difference from when they were building and many of the Ivy covered trees showed movement , which turned out to be a few

Blackbirds and a small flock of Redwing , like the ones on the Common , gorging on the Ivy berries . A small bird , hovering like a Goldcrest in the ground vegetation caught my attention . Fast moving ,

I did manage one bad shot of it , which appears to identify it as a Chiffchaff . The walk around the other side of East Lake was very quiet , even the Common Snipe had left the frozen ground that they been feeding on for some time now . Lots of Finches feeding on the ground in small flocks , but they

all turned out to be Chaffinches , not a single one could I make into a Brambling . Reaching Slingsby

Hide , I was greeted by the usual sentry , but that was just about the only sighting . Heading back towards the car park , and warmth , I found a small flock of birds in an Alder over the path . The

majority of them were Siskins , the first I have managed to find on the site during recent visits . Only trouble was I was wrong for the sun and they came out very dark . They were quite happy with me standing quietly , but when two mums with kids came along , they flew off . It wasn't until I got

home that I realised that at least one of the flock was a Lesser Redpoll . Almost at the car , a Long-

tailed Tit was going through a few trapeze tricks , but would it turn and face the camera !