Highs and Lows of Birding: Bring on the blizzards

The past week has been an interesting one with a drop in interest rates, the pound rallying against the Euro, a drop in attendance at work nationally and huge amounts of snow in the SE and beyond. Last Sunday John and myself ventured East towards East Kent but briefly called in at Lower Halstow to appreciate an empty tree devoid of Waxwings before heading off to the arctic wastelands further East and two superb Long-eared Owls sitting quietly in the trees out of the ridiculously cold and biting wind. At Collard's lake Stodmarsh, a Bittern was feeding along the reed edge in the distance whilst a redhead Smew swam nearby. An assemblage of Gulls failed to reveal anything of great note so onto Stodmarsh where upon arrival it started snowing and then blizzards conditions. A Brambling feeding on Brendan's carefully placed seed provided some easy viewing whilst the lakes held a huge number of Teal which soon become invisible in the arctic conditions. A walk into the alder wood produced a very tame Robin whilst two Woodcock or Timber Dick, or apparently in some parts of the UK, Mahogany love truncheon, as there known battled their way through the snow, great stuff. A quick stop by Stodmarsh church for photographs was noting compared to what we were about to see, as a Jack Snipe was seen on the small stream by the church, stunning views. Next stop Seaton where very little was seen but brought back memories of last autumn and the Black Stork. A Merlin quickly passed through nearby and by 4 pm we decided that the weather looked a bit dicey and headed home, just in time as snow then fell heavily all around.

Monday morning and the journey to work was entertaining to say the least but once at work and at lunch break I ventured into the blizzards to look for displaced birds though found nothing. The Tuesday was a different story though with reports of a Waxwing by the hospital I went on a Waxwing quest and located 3 at the East end of the hospital. This paled into insignificance though as whilst speaking to a work colleague, I noticed there were Waxwings in the trees outside the lab. These birds were still present to Thursday at least one of which was colour ringed in Aberdeen in Nov last year. The birds provided great views and some amusement for the hospital staff with this guy standing in the snow with bins and camera!!