The setting Moon
A Mistle Thrush was singing away from the tree tops and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers flew across the car park. Just as I was about to leave the car park a Grey Wagtail came bounding over and headed towards the lake. I'd decided to walk anti-clockwise round the lake and I'm glad I did as a huge flock 200+ Redwing and Fieldfare took off in batches of 50 or so from a tall tree in the field, adjacent to Stanton House. Later a couple of dozen or so were seen feeding in the field alongside the main track into the park.
Fieldfare
On the lake a drake Goosander was swimming alongside the 30+ Mallard and a single Black-headed Gull was the only gull to be seen. There were quite a few Coot and one or two Moorhens on the water and the resident Mute Swans were up by the dam.
Goosander (drake)
Around the waters edge in the alders, a flock or should I say a charm of Goldfinches were feeding on the cones.
The lake
Behind the dam as it drops down I could hear a Red-legged Partridge but couldn't locate it. Further around a party of Long-tailed Tits were foraging and a single Goldcrest was trying to keep up. Along the pathway were dozens of Snowdrops, just ready to burst into flower.
Snowdrops
A really good spot to see birds up close has to be the feeders on the main path from the Car Park. And sure enough there were plenty of birds to be seen. Another photographer was there and with his handful of seeds was topping up the logs alongside the track. This was a great way to see and photograph the birds in a more natural surrounding.
There were Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Robins, a male Blackbird, Dunnock and Nuthatch all feeding from the logs, whilst the Long-tailed Tits seemed more at home using the bird table. Surprisingly there was no sign of any Marsh Tits.
Blackbird (male)
A defiant Robin seeing off a Nuthatch
Something startled the birds and as I scanned the sky above I just caught a glimpse of a Brambling sitting in the tree behind me. I just managed a couple of photos of it before it headed off into the woods.
Brambling
After 2 hours of walking and photographing the wildlife in the park, I had seen and heard 33 bird species. Not bad on a cold but sunny winters day.