Having seen 2019 in I got swiftly to bed as we planned a full days birding in Cambridgeshire to start the New Year. I picked Mark Hawkes up as the Robins started singing and once in the wilds one of the first birds of the year was a surprise as a male Long-eared Owl did a hoot in the last of the darkness at Woodwalton Fen. We hoped to see a Woodcock flying in to roost in the woods after feeding in more open areas but were left expectant. However once the light broke Redpolls and Marsh Tits were pretty evident and a huge Peregrine hammered low through the dawn.
At Holme Fen it didn't take too long to catch up with the Rough-legged Buzzard and Red Kites were dotted across the skyline. Ferry Meadows was busy with dog walkers and we found the female Scaup, a flock of Goosander, a drake Red-crested Pochard and a 1CY Mediterranean Gull in a half hour visit. Down to Needingworth Lakes where a couple of smart male Smew, White Nuns, were accompanied by 3 redheads and a Chiff-Chaff flicked around the sewage works willows.
At St Ives bus station we took a little while to locate the very fine male Black Redstart which shivered it's russet tail and flashed it's white primary shafts like a good un. At Fen Drayton a hoped for gull roost failed to materialise and it too was heaving with visitors out to blow the cobwebs away as the curtain falls on another festive season.
At Holme Fen it didn't take too long to catch up with the Rough-legged Buzzard and Red Kites were dotted across the skyline. Ferry Meadows was busy with dog walkers and we found the female Scaup, a flock of Goosander, a drake Red-crested Pochard and a 1CY Mediterranean Gull in a half hour visit. Down to Needingworth Lakes where a couple of smart male Smew, White Nuns, were accompanied by 3 redheads and a Chiff-Chaff flicked around the sewage works willows.
At St Ives bus station we took a little while to locate the very fine male Black Redstart which shivered it's russet tail and flashed it's white primary shafts like a good un. At Fen Drayton a hoped for gull roost failed to materialise and it too was heaving with visitors out to blow the cobwebs away as the curtain falls on another festive season.
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