Patchwork Challenge Trip 4 (22nd January) 51 Birds

I was unable to get out this weekend due to work, so here's an update from last weekend instead.

I'm going to keep it short because there was very little of note to report. It was absolutely freezing, but not enough to tempt out any Water Rails, so I feel I'm rapidly missing my chance to see them until Winter.

The Egrets were too far away for good shots, so here's a Grey Heron.

There were the usual assortment of geese and gulls on the fields and the three great white egrets were still to be found. Annoyingly I saw no trace of the Fieldfares that Dominic had spotted earlier in the week and I couldn't find Mediterranean Gulls either. I scoured what felt like hundreds of Black-Headed Gulls, but couldn't spot any at all.

A small flock of Long-Tailed Tits was the highlight of the walk. They were everywhere!

The only stroke of luck came from finding a pair of Shovelers on the lake which I discovered when I was processing my photos. The highlight of the walk was discovering a flock of 20 Long-Tailed Tits that were feeding along the path on the far side of South Lake and a Buzzard getting mobbed by a Carrion Crow.

It's an awkwardly lit shot, but I still quite like this Buzzard image.

It's a heavy crop at long distance but the chestnut patches of the Shovelers are easy to see.

And here it is being mobbed by a Carrion Crow.