THIS WEEK 16-22 Feb
Monday 17TH February...

What started out as dull morning and very unpromising turned into a beautiful afternoon with clear blues skies. The groung and all standing water lay frozen all day and the flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare worked hard to find soft ground. The land to the east of the marsh seemed to have warmed up first and the flocks of thrushes gathered here in the late afternoon.

In the hedge a single Song Thrush found some berries on the Ivy and fluttered up from the ground to grab then and then down again. After several minutes of exersion it stood where the field edge met the hedge, sheltered from the cold wind by the copse behind and took a well deserved rest in the afternoon sun.

The water in Strine Pipe was still moving and unfrozen, it was here I found 4 Teal, the only Teal of the afternoon. The usual big gathering on the open pools, now frozen, was nowhere to be found.

A huge flock of Woodpigeons, numbering more than a couple of thousand drifted into the trees in the Hawthorn paddock and a small flock of Lapwing flew past in the distance.

A friendly Robin came close as I stood and watched a small group of birds moving through the copse alongside the road. In this group a single female Siskin and two Coal Tits.

The Mallard were in the open field feeding vigouroulsy but on what I couldn't make out. Buzzards were everywhere at least 6 in view at one time. Two Ravens shot past travelling west in thier puropseful manner.

In other areas of the Weald Moors I found Chaffinches and a 150 flock of Jackdraws. A single Kestrel took watch from roadside telegraph wires.

The Buttery turned up 26 Mute Swans and a single snipe

SATURDAY 22nd February.

Tony Seagravey phoned Saturday morning. The Weald Moors were under a fairly heavy mist but depite this he had a very interesting morning!

He flushed the female Hen Harrier which flew off in the direction of the Buttery. We haven't seen this bird for some time, just over two weeks ago. The last person to see it was Pete Jordan. It looks like its moved patch to an area just outside Wall Farm. Despite numerous checks around the Weald Moors we had not been able to locate this bird or the less frequently seen male.

Tony also reported hearing a Crossbill on the farm in some coniferous planting. He couldnt locate the bird in the gloom of a Weald Moors mist. Recently he has spent some time locating and watching these birds elsewhere and felt he confident that he was now very familiar with their calls.

In the afternoon the mist cleared and sun came out. The temperature dropped once again but not quite enough to freeze over.

I had a great hour or two wandering around the Weald Moors until a great red sun dropped over the horizon.

I found a roost for Goldfinches which I have never seen before. In fact I didn't realise that they did roost in numbers so was surprised to find more than two hundred birds winging in to a dense shrubby garden corner. Typically these birds came in quite high, perched on the tops of neighbouring oaks and then dropped into the shrubs quickly and at speed. Between them they created a exicted racket and the noise mounted with the arrival of further small parties at regular intervals.

There were samller numbers of tits,Chaffinches and Greenfinches I could hear Teal back on the unfozen pools at Wall Farm and in the fields around there were the usual small parties of Redwing, Fieldfare and Starling.

There were only three Swans at the Buttery and one flew off to catch up with three others that flew overhead. I scanned distant fence posts ofr Shorteared owl. It during one such scan that I picked out a swan head and neck protruding above the grass and then realised the rest of the Swans were sat in a ditch across the other side of the field. By the time I left they had emerged intot he neighbouring field and number some 34 birds, mixed ages.

A Willow tree in this field produced two Meadow Pipits and a Green Woodpecker called in the distance and behind the gathering late afternoon mist.

Great Tits chirring warned of the arrival of a female Sparrowhawk in the hedge which left promptly as I walked in that direction. A large Flock of starlings gathered on the wires before heading off in the direction of Telford somewhere, presumably to roost.

The Jackdaw roost near Kinnersley was packed 200+ birds and many rooks amongst them.

Jon Lloyd.

SUNDAY - (S France)

Stonechat, 6 Mute Swans, 3 Coot, 150+ Lapwings, 5 Canada Geese, 2 Moorhen, Kestrel, Teal, Mallard and Black-headed Gull.

MONDAY (JL) See opposite diary.

Stonechat, 4 Buzzards,70 Mallard, 2 Grey Heron, 5 Pheasants, 30 Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

TUESDAY (JL)

Heavey frost over night and clear blue skies and very sharp freezing wind. Large flocks of Lapwing, Starling, Redwing and Fieldfares on the moors. Disturbed by Peregrine out hunting. A few Teal about. Buzzards and large flocks of corvids. Longtailed Tit in the hedge with Goldcrest and Coal Tit.

Kestrel at Crudginton Moor took small bird in the hedge and flew some distance before stopping to eat.

(Martin Grant)

Fieldfares and Redwings in the field down to the hide and a Songthrush down the footpath. I met Pete Jordan just coming out of the hide and he had seen a Kingfisher fly down the Strine
Brook in front of the hide. There were a few Lapwings to the left of the Marsh and also a Grey Heron. The Stonchat was seen on the Marsh and 15 Goldfinch along the boundary fence a Buzzard was also on the fence being
mobbed by 2 Carrion Crows and a Magpie that were trying to steal its kill
that it was holding in its talons. Two or three Snipe were seen to land in the Marsh. The water being frozen had no waterfowl but 64 Black-headed Gulls
landed on the ice.

WEDNESDAY - (S France)

Stonechat also 4 Buzzards.

THURSDAY (Martin Grant)

I met Pete Jordan who had walked from the Buttery where he had recorded 34 Mute Swans and 16 Snipe. Coming across the Wallfarm fields he had seen a flock of 100 Lapwing, Skylark and a Cormorant flew over also 2 Stonechats both females were seen as well as the one on the Marsh. Walking down to the hide we saw a few Fieldfares, Redwings and Starlings in the fields and a flock of 8 Goldfinch in the hedge. A Songthrush was singing in the copse away to the left of the hide where a Great Spotted Woodpecker was also seen 5 Teal and a few Mallard flew up out of the Strine Brook. The water on the Marsh was beginning to thaw so it may be ice free by the weekend, a lone Canada Goose landed on the ice. A Peregrine was in the field at the back of the Marsh it was mobbed by 2 Ravens they were later seen display tumbling over the wood to the west. A Willow Tit, 2 Goldfinch, Blue Tit and Great Tit were on the feeders.

FRIDAY (David Holloway)

21/02/03 9-10am Cold overcast morning. Approaching the hide I flushed quite a few Mallard, Teal and a couple of Partridge from the ditch; having passed the odd Fieldfare and a Kestrel on the way down. The marsh was still frozen for the most part and a large flock of Teal were looking for somewhere to land. The usual BHGulls, Moorhen, Teal and Mallard were on the frozen margins visited by 3 Mute Swans, 2 Snipe, and a lone Canada Goose - No Coot this time! A solitary Buzzard was perched on a fence post and working their way across the ploughed field were 20+ hen Pheasant while the cock Pheasants appeared to be feeding around the marsh edges one by one. Feeder activity produced Hedge Sparrow, Robin, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Blue& Great Titsand a Marsh Tit?