Nethergong Birding

Before I left home this morning at 5.50am, I had to spend some time de-icing the car as it was totally frozen. I then made the short drive over to Nethergong where I parked up at the bridge and listened into the darkness for a while. It was generally quiet but a Little Owl was seen as it flew in and perched on a post not to far away. As the light picked up, I parked up in Nethergong and spent the next 3 and a half hours walking around the site in very cold conditions but later on, the sun made an appearance and it got slightly warmer. I managed to see an excellent 59 species which included a few quality birds. A new bird for the site was seen when a Water Pipit flew over calling giving its quite harsh raspy call compared to that of the Meadow Pipit, this being my 119th species I have seen at Nethergong. Other birds seen included 1 Grey Heron, 2 Yellowhammer,1 Woodcock, 3 Green Woodpecker, 1 Barn Owl was seen hunting, c40 Fieldfare, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Meadow Pipit, c10 Redwing, 2 Water Rail, 2 Reed Bunting, c27 Stock Dove, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 3 Jay and c10 Long tailed Tit. There were 4 Lapwing, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Mistle Thrush in song, 3 Little Egret, 1 Great White Egret again in ditches just west of the bridge, 2 Stonechat, 2 Skylark, 5 Greenfinch, 1 Bearded Tit, 1 Kingfisher and c800 Cormorant flying out towards Reculver. 

Great White Egret