December 2009 - Lakeside: Stonechat

Monday 21st: Snow fell again yesterday on top of the snow that has already frozen. Finished work at lunchtime until New Year's Eve so what better way to spend the afternoon than visit the Lakeside in search of the elusive Siberian Chiffchaff.

It always seems a degree colder down by the water and today was no exception...it was FREEZING! Plenty of waterfowl about on the lake:Pochards, Coots, Canada Geese (of which there were many), Mallards, Tufted Ducks and 30+ Mute Swans. Below is a video taken with my camera of a family of Mute Swans; the cob and pen together with four cygnets. This appears to be the only Mute Swan family that is still together.







Well I tramped all over the snowy island and around the lake looking for the Chiffchaff but I guess it has departed the area. Well that's the name of the game, you win some...you loose some! But slogging through the snow, I came upon a rather flighty Stonechat as can be seen from the videos below. I followed it all over the island until it finally flew northwards, away from the lake. It's a pity I just had my camera to take video and not the camcorder.







On my way back to the car, I saw this female Reed Bunting feeding on tiny crumbs of bread dropped in the snow by people feeding the ducks. How it can see white bread crumbs on the snow is one of life's great mysteries.