January Chiffchaff

Back in December I was lucky enough to spot a Chiffchaff feeding with a small group of Long-tailed Tits in the willows on the north side of the middle reservoir ( see here). At the time, I speculated that this species was possibly over wintering at Linacre, and said how good it would be to find a bird in January- well today it happened! Today's bird was found in the willows again, on it's own this time, so February is now the only month of the year that this species has been reported. Guess what I'll be doing in February?!

Apart from the Chiffchaff, it was quite quiet again, with Mallard and Tufted Duck numbers low again, 58 and 16 respectively. 11 Mandarins were on the middle reservoir, along with 2 Little Grebes, and the 3 juvenile Shags. Black-headed Gulls were seen on the top and middle reservoirs, with a very good count of 85 birds. There were 6 Coots and 10 Moorhens, which was good. 2 of the Coots were engaged in some strenuous fighting! 1 Cormorant , 1 Grey Heron, and 1 Grey Wagtail were also recorded.

The woods were also quiet today, but a Buzzard was seen over the top reservoir, and Nuthatch , Great-spotted Woodpecker and Redwing were also new for the year.

Year List update:

74 – Great-spotted Woodpecker

75 – Redwing

76 - Nuthatch

77 - Fieldfare (see last week in Worcester)

78 - Chiffchaff