The early news of the day was the return of the waxwings. A single in the orchard behind the house was followed by two in the bushes by the doctors' surgery. Unfortunately, neither of the sightings were by me :-( despite extensive searching. I was lucky enough, however, to see a peacock butterfly that flew over my head & landed on the front of my neighbour's house. So, it wasn't just me enjoying the early sunshine.
The usual suspects were on the garden feeders - house sparrows, house sparrows & more house sparrows!
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| Garden birds |
Collared doves & woodpigeons seem to be ever-present. Best of the morning's sightings for me, however, was a single buzzard being mobbed by a pair of crows as it passed over the village.
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| Common Buzzard being mobbed by two Carrion Crows |
During the afternoon, as Holly was at her Wildlife Explorers group Christmas party, I took a walk around Fen Drayton Lakes. Swavesey Lake held a good array of dabbling ducks, including gadwall, shoveler, wigeon & teal.
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| Swavesey Lake |
When I reached Covell's Drain, I decided to head along the side of the Trout Pond & Far Fen Lake to the Bailey Bridge. Possibly a mistake as had I carried along to Ferry Lagoon, I might have found the Slavonian grebe that was reported there later! However, I did see a grey wagtail & four Egyptian geese amongst a very large flock of Canadas & greylags.
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| Covell's Drain |
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| Canada Geese |
My species total for the two hour walk was 55. Not bad at all :-)
