I was out of the house at 5am yesterday where a few minutes later, I pulled up at Chislet Marshes for a listen into the darkness. Within a few minutes, I had heard 2 Tawny Owl, 2 Little Owl and 1 Barn Owl and as I walked up the path to collect my recorder, I noted 5 Grey Partridge and could hear 1 Red legged Partridge (very scarce here) calling. There wasn't much on the recorder except for the 3 Owl species calling throughout the night. I then spent a good few hours walking around the Nethergong / Chislet Marshes patch and noted 60 species. Birds noted included c70 Greylag Geese, 4 Mute Swan, 2 Gadwall, 12 Mallard, a record count of 17 Pochard, it seems crazy that a few months ago, I hadn't seen one on the patch. There were 6 Tufted Duck, 3 Pheasant, 44 Woodpigeon, 11 Moorhen, 2 Coot, 2 Little Grebe, 6 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker and 2 Kestrel. There was 1 Hobby, 4 Jay, 2 Raven, 21 Blue Tit, 4 Great Tit, 2 Skylark, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Swallow, 17 Chiffchaff, 7 Cetti's Warbler, 13 Long tailed Tit, 7 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Whitethroat, 1 singing Firecrest, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Pied Wagtail, 2 Chaffinch, 14 Linnet, 1 Goldfinch and 7 Reed Bunting. Weather permitting, I can get the recorder out during the week to see if anything good is passing over during the night.
That is a lovely bird. I like it. A magnificent photograph.
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