It must be the weekend again as the usual rubbish weather was again present this morning. No rain today but thick fog hampered many birds being seen but I ploughed on and saw a reasonable amount of species. On a quick visit yesterday I managed to see 3 Barnacle Geese (83) flying towards Grove Ferry with 7 Greylag Geese. Only the second time I have encountered this species on the patch. Back to today. I started off this morning at 05:30 on Chislet Marshes where I wandered on up the main path to listen to the day waking up. One of the first birds I heard calling was a Red legged Partridge. I had recorded it distantly last week but it was great to actually hear it calling. I continued on up the path until I ended up quite near as it was calling in the dark. There were also 3 Grey Partridge calling too. I then drove around to Nethergong and parked up and spent a few hours walking around in the fog, mostly listening for birds. Noted this morning were 1 Mute Swan, 2 Egyptian Geese flew up from the main lake, 5 Mallard, 1 Teal, 3 Pheasant, 2 Stock Dove, 43 Woodpigeon, 5 Moorhen, 3 Coot, 3 Herring Gull, 2 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel and 2 Jay. There were 24 Jackdaw, c20 Rook, 2 Skylark, 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 5 Long tailed Tit, 1 Firecrest (84), 1 Treecreeper, c40 Starling, 7 Song Thrush, 32 Redwing, 51 Fieldfare, 3 Dunnock, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Meadow Pipit, 10 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch, 12 Linnet, 5 Goldfinch, 5 Yellowhammer and 3 Reed Bunting. 

3 Barnacle and 2 Greylag Geese

Red legged Partridge

I went out last night at 6pm to put the recorder out and spent 30 minutes listening as it got dark. birds noted included 7 Grey Partridge and 1 Barn Owl. Recording throughout the night produced 2 Water Rail and at 23:47, a flock of Brent Geese (82) flew over calling. Always a special moment knowing under the cover of darkness, that these birds are migrating over land. There were also a number of Grey Partridge calls during the night. 

Brent Geese

Nocmig recording last night produced a few species including only the second record of Red legged Partridge (81) in 10 years of recording. Although a little distant on the recorder, I can certainly hear it. It would be nice to see them spread more into the area. Other birds heard included Little, Barn and Tawny Owl, 1 Little Grebe, Moorhen, Golden Plover, Skylark and Grey Partridge were calling on and off throughout the night. 

Grey Partridge

Skylark