Peeking through

The last 10 days have steadily warmed up. The period started off freezing cold as the mid-month snap of hard weather continued. Since then the days have become greyer and milder, culminating in today which reached 10°C. A few signs of spring have peeked through as a result, but birding has been decidedly steady and wintry for the most part.

Little Owl.

Sunday 22nd

This morning's freezing fog had burned off by the time I went for a short walk along the river early afternoon. I was pleased to score a Water Rail at Eashing Marsh – I only managed three 1-km records last year. A Fieldfare near Eashing Bridge was also notable as I rarely see them along the Wey or in the village.

Monday 23rd

A freezing cold but sunny morning, with the temperature as low as -7°C early on. I ended up having an excellent 1-km session, starting along the river where three Goosander and a drake Teal were flushed from the Wey. The former species presumably gets along this stretch occasionally during hard weather, with my only other record during the December freeze. Some 90 Chaffinches and seven Skylarks at A3 Fields were noteworthy too.

A3 Fields.

I then popped up to Eashing Fields, hoping perhaps for a Lapwing on the move in the hard weather. As I scanned the skies from Top Field I did indeed pick up a black and white bird in flight – a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker! The bird alighted in some trees for a short while before disappearing.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

What a crazy record; LSW is one of the last species I ever thought I'd see at Eashing Fields. Presumably the bird was roving around in search of food … and the direction it came from suggested it may even have passed through my garden (where the feeders had been freshly topped up that morning)!

Tuesday 24th

Two Bullfinches and a Green Woodpecker were the headliners at Eashing Fields this morning – both seem to be rare here, curiously, these being only my third records of each species. The green-ringed Kestrel, a Reed Bunting and my first singing Chaffinch of the year were also noted.

Wednesday 25th

No birding.

Thursday 26th

Grey skies and a chilly northerly wind greeted me at Shackleford this morning, which was much quieter than last week. There's been no sign of the Corn Buntings since 19th and, while they were super elusive and could reappear, they've probably moved on, making the record all the more mysterious. I suspect they came in during the December freeze (or possibly the lesser one recently), both of which saw Skylark numbers spike here. I counted 50 today, down from 110 last Thursday.

Other bits included seven Red-legged Partridges, 11 Reed Buntings and a new south-west Surrey record count of 19 Ring-necked Parakeets (gulp). Disappointingly there were no Lapwings – the birds last week must have been weather related. With the development of the arable fields at Dunsfold Park underway, 2022-23 is the first winter in my life that there's no regular (or even semi-regular) flock in south-west Surrey …

Red Kite and Carrion Crow.

Friday 27th

No birding.

Saturday 28th

Another grey, rather cold morning. I walked around the Devil's Punch Bowl first thing and there were pleasing numbers of common species around, although winter finches were conspicuous by their absence – not a single Siskin or redpoll were detected. So it was a little odd that I counted 10 Greenfinches, a species not associated with habitat like this and one I rarely see in double-figures these days.

Two Ravens, three Dartford Warblers and a single Marsh Tit were some of the other noteworthy species enjoyed.

Devil's Punch Bowl.

I walked around Peper Harow mid-afternoon and was treated to a nice encounter with the Little Owl pair – a species rarely seen in the daytime these days. Some 75 Meadow Pipits were quite unexpected and, rather grimly, is my biggest local count this winter.

Little Owl.

Sunday 29th

Eight Tufted Duck was my highest count at Snowdenham Mill Pond for a few years this morning. It's odd to think up to 40 wintered here when I moved back from university in 2015 and I'm not sure why they've dropped off … six Gadwall, five Teal and nine Mandarin – including displaying drakes – were also present.

I then plumped for something a bit different and walked the Loseley/south Guildford part of the North Downs and onto Loseley Park. It was rather windy and quiet on the downs – this stretch is a shining example of decimated Surrey farmland, with flailed, skeleton hedgerows and few birds. Four Skylarks and a Reed Buntings were virtually all I mustered. It's hard to imagine breeding Stone-Curlews here in the early 1900s, Cirl Buntings until the 1960s and Corn Buntings until the 1980s. Oh for a time machine …

The southern slopes of the North Downs at Loseley.

Later in the morning I took up Kit's offer of a trip to Staines Reservoirs for the wintering Lesser Scaup. As a vice-county birder I rarely reach this part of modern Surrey – it's a bleak place at the best of times and I haven't visited since February 2018 (for the Horned Lark). 

After securing stratospherically distant views of the scaup (only my second in the UK), plus slightly better ones of two Black-necked Grebes, a Water Pipit, 12 Goldeneye and three Shelduck, we headed home.

Monday 30th

No birding.

Tuesday 31st

Matt and I took a break from a day of working on our book (nearly finished!) by popping up to Eashing Fields late morning. The male Peregrine that's wintering in the wider area flew over Top Field – my second sighting here this year. A female Sparrowhawk unsuccessfully tried to take a Redwing from Bottom Field and the green-ringed Kestrel passed through.

Peregrine.