First Wigeon of the winter – Felbrigg Lake
Wednesday was taken up with our first corporate volunteering day at Sustead Common / Spurrell’s Wood, but I did have my first Redwing of the winter – a group of three, newly arrived birds, which dropped into Spurrell’s Wood during our lunch-break. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours tidying-up and finishing burning the considerable volume of cuttings generated by the enthusiastic and energetic group. On my walk through the wood I put up a Woodcock, the first returning bird of the winter – a welcome sight. I walked back home through the park, checking the rough grazing, lake and water meadows as I did so. No sign of any Stonechat, but there were a couple of Meadow Pipit and a small flock of Linnet on the rough grazing below the dam. On the lake, the newly-arrived Wigeon was immediately obvious, with it’s winter russet tones. The female Pintail was less easy to locate, sat roosting in vegetation along the western edge. On the water meadows there was a quarrelsome group of a dozen Greylags and ten Teal – making six duck species in total, along with Mallard, Gadwall & Tufted Duck. There were a few Blackbirds about – quite possibly migrants rather than resident birds.
Aylmerton Nature Diary 