2015 got off to a somewhat grey and murky start. The temperature had risen after a few very frosty but sunny days with the temperature never rising much about freezing, giving lovely views of the local common:
This morning, by contrast, was warmer but also windier and I joined the local RSPB group for their annual New Year's Day walk at Willen Lake.
We started watching from the shores of the lake where we saw a number of different ducks including wigeon, gadwall, tufted such and a couple of golden eye, as well as great crested grebes and dabchicks we went off to the hide to see what we could see from there. One of the birds spotted from the hide was a chiff-chaff and I was surprised to learn that the chiff-chaff sometimes over-winters in the UK. We had an excellent view of quite a pretty brown bird that was constantly moving around, so little chance to photograph it. We were ready to leave the hide when someone spotted a water rail. Although it had retreated into the reeds, it re-appeared and we had a good view as it quickly ran from one patch or reeds to another. I have never seen a water rail before and did not know what an attractive bird they are. There was more to come - two or three snipe were also in the reeds and although the view of the birds in the reeds were limited, we had quite good views of two of the birds flying off with their typical zig-zag pattern. It's a long time since I have seen a snipe - the pattern particularly around their eyes is very striking.
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