Pretty cold today. Highlights were 2 Redpolls on a treetop in the Snipe enclosure, one a smart male. Sadly too far away and too quick to fly off for a photo. Also 3 Snipe flew out from there. The other highlights were a pair of GC Grebes displaying on W lake, and a pair of Gadwall there too, and there was a Grey Wagtail in the now smelly Sully Brook by the park entrance, where I saw the 2 Water Rails recently.

The hybrid aythya duck [probably a Tufted x Pochard] was in E. lake on 1st Mar.

A few shots below of the rather elusive Water Rail in Sully Brook, which this morning was preening in dense vegetation.

40 Fieldfare in W paddock plus a few Redwing and a Mistle Thrush. A pair of Little Grebe together on W lake with some whinnying. Pair of Mute Swans copulating. There were 5 Shoveler on E lake [3m, 2f], a Grey Wagtail in Sully Brook near the park entrance and a Water Rail again.

2-Water Rails,2-Stock Doves

A few vocal Fieldfare and Redwing around S edge of W paddock this a.m. but highlight was great views of 2 Water Rail scuttling along the ditch on the RHS as you enter the park, by the low concrete parapet. No. 72 for the year I think.

5 poss 6 Buzzards circling at Cosmeston this morning. A pair were cirlcing together again over Cogan Wood. A Peregrine whizzed past one of the circling pairs.

1f-Scaup near the ice rink.12h00

Total of 47 species seen over 3 hours this morning . Highlights were water rail and kingfisher from the hide , flyover peregrine and a couple of ravens . Dippers on the feeder and Taff along with a single female goosander . 6 redwing and a flock of 10 siskin , drumming great spotted and calling green woodpeckers . Lots of common woodland birds including 6 goldcrests and this hungry sparrowhawk .

Late morning circuit of Cosmeston as usual. Took some sunflower hearts to put on a stump in Cogan Wood, and the Marsh Tit appeared. First time I’ve seen it there since 2019! Images are a bit ‘noisy’ as they are big crops at 1000 ISO. A pair of Great Crested Grebes in full regalia were displaying on W lake and an adult Common Gull was on the posts. There were 32 Pochard. The Crow is ‘Beaky’ who hangs around the park entrance and the car park, so named due to the extended sharp hook at the end of his or her upper mandible. He/she is very confiding.

Flock of 15+ Siskin on Alder- my first sighting here. Chiffchaff 2, LT Tits 15+ Bullfinch pair, Great Spotted Woodpecker Pair, Chaffinch 5, Male Blackbirds fighting in leaf litter, Goldcrest, Wren, Great and Blue Tit , Jay, Magpies and Crows and 1 Buzzard perched on tree. Moorhen and Mallard pairs on pond.

A ‘high’ high tide (11.3m) this morning in calm sea conditions left a fairly narrow strip of beach along the coast and on Sully Island. Waders present were 17 Curlew, 3 Grey Plover, 24 Ringed Plover, 7 Dunlin, 26 Turnstone and 93 Oystercatcher, and there were also 16 Shelduck on Sully Island.

On Sully Moors/Cog Moors the highlight was a flock of 29 Lapwing, with 7 Shoveler, a Little Egret and over 200 Black-headed Gulls also present.

Today at 0900 a chiffchaff flitting about in my front garden right outside the window. Plumage a bit nondescript – almost same colour below as above, eyestripe indistinct.

Just the usual wildfowl today, with small birds not being very showy in the strong v cold easterly. Only interest was a drake Shoveler in with the Tufties and Pochard, all sheltering on the lee side of the mile road, on W lake. A pair of Great Crested Grebes there were displaying. Three cob Mute Swans were doing some ‘busking’. Got a nice shot of a Song Thrush by the site office, although when I processed the image I found that it had lost its tail [cat?]. Highlight was a very confiding Wood Mouse right by the side of the exit road.

10-Little Egrets sheltering from the cold wind this afternoon at the western end of the island.Also long views of a male Kingfisher,2-Snipe and a Water Rail.15h45-16h30

On 2nd I watched a female Great Spotted Woodpecker chipping away at a tree in the wooded area behind the bird table. Today, 7th Feb, in a very cold easterly wind a quickish circuit round both lakes. There were 22 Pochard on W lake in nice light so managed some nice shots of a couple of drakes. They were closer than usual but still needed a biggish crop. Two Little Grebes were in the bay and there were 3 Gadwall. A lone Redwing was in leaf litter by the high path at the back of W lake.

Circular walk yesterday from Sully to Cosmeston. A Black Redstart was on fencing at Jubilee Hall, Sully. Good views of Curlew on Sully playing fields, and of female Bullfinch, Green Woodpecker, Jay and Long-tailed Tits along St Mary’s Well Bay Road. Lots of birdsong in the calm conditions including Song Thrush, Skylark, Greenfinch and Chaffinch.

At Cosmeston the female Scaup was on the East Lake, a Water Rail and Cetti’s Warbler were heard at the East Lake reedbed, and Gadwall, Shoveler and Pochard were on the West Lake. Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Fieldfare also present, and a pair of Raven flew over calling.

A Dipper on the Ely. 4 Bullfinches. 2 Ravens. Many male birds singing, and some courtship displays seen, including a precarious attempt on a wobbly TV aerial by a pair of collared doves. A Crow attacking a Buzzard was another indication that nesting season is arriving.

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Six Grey Heron went unseen behind vegetation yesterday (Friday) morning on Cog Moors until flushed by a mystery intruder. Over 200 Black-headed Gulls present on the floods there along with 2 adult Great Black-backed Gulls. Two Chiffchaff were feeding along Sully Brook and at least four Teal were on a pool at the base of the former railway embankment.

Two Grey Plover and a few Turnstone and Oystercatcher were the only waders on view at the beach.

On Thursday morning 5 Brent Geese flew down channel past Sully Island.