Bewick`s Swans

Walland Marsh - cold, dry and sunny, w 3 -A superb winters day with bright sunshine throughout and ideal for a jaunt out onto the Marsh. For once the Bewick`s Swan flock (86) and a single Whooper were close to the lane near Horse Bones Farm, grazing the winter wheat and showing well; one bird in particular came even closer as it drank from a puddle. By Hawthorn Corner a decent size flock of winter thrushes were finishing off the remaining berries and foraging in adjacent fields, along with a host of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes. A seed dump yielded 30 Corn, 20 Yellow and 10 Reed Buntings, until scattered by a Sparrowhawk. Cutting back across to Midley more thrushes scattered out of the hedgerows along with Chaffinches and two flocks of Tree Sparrows, while a fallow field was fulls of corvids and Woodpigeons. At Wheelsgate we had a walk along the railways line where Barney flushed a fox and then a hare!  Further along a few Skylarks and Mipits fed in a weedy patch, plus several Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers.

                                Bewick`s Swans, Walland Marsh

ARC - From the causeway road two Smew and a Pintail in a large mixed flock of ducks, while from Screen hide the usual Great White Egrets, Marsh Harriers and Bitterns (he says in a blasé manner).