First up we spot a Red-necked Grebe to add to the year list. Work is going on up by the north basin so it means we have to walk around the long way to head up to the north basin where we are told a Great-Northern Diver and a Slav Grebe have been seen.
As we head up a Greenfinch shows well for a good tick, we head on to the north basin and that is a long walk and we don't find the diver or the Grebe, it starts to rain and gets heavy so of home. Jimmy and I return 2 days later and face the same long walk but this time we find the Great-northern Diver and the Slav Grebe plus 6 Goosanders,3 nice ticks. we also saw a Black Redstart.
In between the two KGV visits Jimmy and I drove to Strawberry pond in Epping Forest which is only a couple of miles from my house, we now have to pay to park on a muddy bit of land that only has space for 4 cars but that's where we know we will get to see Mandarin duck, we see some as soon as we arrive so we head into the forest and tick Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Goldcrest and also Great-spotted Woodpecker, 5 good year ticks makes it a good morning visit.
Now we drive a few miles to Lee valley to look for the Bittern that has made its home there,
The Bittern is seen as soon as we arrive in the lovely new hide, we spend a good hour with the bird and it was visible the whole time we spent there.
On the 7th Jan Brian calls to say he is off to Lemsford springs where we always get Green Sandpiper and we find 7 of them along with 6 Little Egrets we had already ticked them but nice to see them just in front of the hide. A Jay was ticked while here. It's off to a new reserve for me not far away called Watercress n reserve, what a cracking little place.
It's only a small reserve but we see Bullfinch, Redpoll, and Siskin plus a couple more ticks.
The year tick list has gone up to 101 now.
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| Lee Valley Bittern |
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| Nice catch |
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| Epping Forest Mandarin |
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| The KGV Red-necked Grebe |
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