Fun in the frost

These days it feels like a treat when you get a prolonged cold spell in the winter, so the last week – which for the most part has been properly chilly, with a fixed northerly wind, frost and occasional snow – has been appreciated. Unsurprisingly local birding has improved as a result, with recent sessions featuring a few cool finds and encounters.

Jack Snipe.

Thursday 11th

It was another freezing cold morning and Frensham Great Pond had partially frozen over when I arrived for a pre-work session. From the south side, two Goosander – a drake that was flushed by a swimmer, and a flyover female – were of note and my first of the year. A decent 40 Pochard were tallied up, along with the semi-resident Pochard x Tufted Duck hybrid.

Pochard x Tufted Duck hybrid and Pochard.

I headed to the hotel and, not long after I began scanning, I picked up a Shelduck right out in the middle of the water. A female, she appeared a bit nervous but didn't take flight. Shelduck is a very good local bird – I normally get one or two a year, just about, but this was a very atypical south-west Surrey date for one and felt like a bit of a score.

Shelduck.

Plenty more Canada Geese and Black-headed Gulls than usual were about, too, while three Little Egrets were in the stream by the sailing club.

Friday 12th

It was cloudy this morning, with no frost, but the cold wind was still blowing from the north. It was particularly quiet on the Lammas Lands, with a distinct lack of Snipe around – perhaps the recent freeze had moved them off? Despite this, I persisted with my thermal imaging camera – and eventually picked up a subtle heat signal that piqued my interest.

Closer investigation revealed it to be a prize I've long yearned for here – an approachable crouching Jack Snipe. I went on to enjoy a simply splendid 10 minutes observing this brilliant, elusive species. I've been trying to find a photographable one with the thermal for a couple of years now and have never got this close before, so it was a special encounter.

Jack Snipe.

One or two winter on the Lammas Lands but they're very hard to see, even if you go for a stomp. Having soaked in memorable views, I left the bird in peace and headed home.

Noisy pre-roost gatherings of corvids and Redwings were the main feature of a late afternoon walk along the Wey at Eashing, where Reed Bunting (rarely encountered along the river here, with no records in 2023), three Mandarin and four Red-legged Partridges were of note.

Saturday 13th

It was another cold morning with leaden grey skies, as I plumped for my first Weald wander of the year. I started at The Hurtwood and ended up having a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half on site, mainly studying the mega Lesser Redpoll flock that I'd first noted on 1 December (my last visit here). Again, there were at least 150 birds today, but they proved mobile across Holloways Heath and hard to observe.

Lesser Redpolls, Goldfinches and Siskins.

Despite that I was able to pick out a spanking Mealy Redpoll – a fine, frosty individual, that performed well for a few minutes before vanishing. The mini-influx of this species into England has really flown under the radar this winter (probably because of their niche-ness and the Waxwings!). I love redpolls, though, and can't get enough of them. Jeremy trapped and ringed one at Crooksbury Common later this morning too – amazingly the fourth record of the winter in south-west Surrey.

Mealy Redpoll.

A Woodcock inadvertently flushed from an area of young conifers was very cool, too, and its noisy take-off put up the entire redpoll flock – quite a spectacle. Other bits included 30 or so Siskins and six Bullfinches.

I then dropped down Breakneck Hill and onto the farmland between Loxhill and Hambledon. Some 11 Yellowhammers were nice to see around the same cover crop as on 1 December, and a couple of Reed Buntings were also about. It was otherwise wintry and quiet, though 30 Linnets were seen and a Marsh Tit called in Spring Copse.

Markwick Farm.

In the early afternoon I stuck my head in at Loseley while passing. There were no Lapwings today, but six Teal on the flood were a bit whacky and a site first for me.

Sunday 14th

Like yesterday, it was grey and cold, though a fraction milder and with a light haze hanging in the air. I walked Shackleford and things were a little livelier than most of my visits this winter. 

Easily the most notable observation was that of a Barn Owl, which I accidentally flushed from presumed roost in a tree. It took off, swiftly mobbed by Magpies, before dropping back into cover in the distance.

Barn Owl.

It's amazing how hard to see Barn Owl is locally. Last year I had one record in the entirety of south-west Surrey! Shackleford seems like the type of place that should produce at least semi-regular sightings at dawn or dusk, especially given how often I visit, but it just isn't the case …

A pair of Peregrines also provided entertainment. I strongly suspect this is the same pair that appeared locally last winter/spring, before half-heartedly attempting to nest at a site near Godalming. Hopefully they will succeed this year. Certainly the male was acting fiercely territorial, chasing off a Kestrel at one point.

Peregrines.

Other bits of note included a Coal Tit (only my ninth site record!), an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull south (scarce locally in the winter and my first of 2024), 38 Skylarks, five Reed Buntings, two Stonechats and some Teal on the reedy pond. Fieldfare numbers were still high (200 or more), but seed-eater numbers remained low.

Later in the morning I was able to combine a run with connecting with a drake Pochard at the newly topped up Hammer Pond at Thursley Common, which was found yesterday by Abel. Scarce anywhere away from Frensham or Enton in south-west Surrey, Pochard has become a mega at Thursley after small wintering flocks at Hammer Pond and Moat Pond fizzled out in the 1990s and 2000s. In fact, there had only been one record during the last decade, so it was a nice one to add to my Thursley list (number 143)!

Mobile phone Pochard photo!

A Kingfisher was heard at Silkmill Pond, too.

Monday 15th

Towards the end of a bright, chilly day with a seriously cold northerly wind, I walked along the Wey at Eashing. Having noted a Reed Bunting on Friday in the Eashing Marsh reedbed I was surprised to locate at minimum of eight today. An undetected roost right under my nose, perhaps? Whatever the case, it was my highest 1-km count to date, and I spent some time admiring them – I do love buntings.

Reed Buntings.

A calling Marsh Tit and flyover Sparrowhawk were also noted.

Tuesday 16th

No birding.

Wednesday 17th

After a busy two days of meetings, I had time to be given a binocular-less, late afternoon whistle-stop tour of Josh's south Lincolnshire fenland patch en route to Peterborough station. 

An utterly different world to south-west Surrey, the flat, open landscapes yielded tens of Whooper Swans and hundreds of wildfowl (including 50 or so Pintail at Deeping High Bank, five Red-crested Pochard at Baston Gravel Pits and 20 Goosander on the River Welland), plus Great Egrets and Marsh Harriers, thousands of Lapwings, and so on … 

Baston Gravel Pits.