A unremarkably remarkable day.

 Today was essentially a very unremarkable day. We are into winter, weathered a few storms and are heading to Christmas at an alarming rate. It was bright and sunny this morning with a cool wind which if you were out of the suns warming rays could cut right through you.

Siskin (male)

As I do every Sunday I rode down to my patch to see what life was about and to collect the memory cards for my 3 long term mounted camera traps. I was eager to try out a new strap on my binoculars and a little trepidatious of the low battery on my camera. Often the most amazing shots appear when my camera is either forgotten or out of battery. 

The river was still up. My land was flooded last week and although this had subsided rain during the week had swelled the waters and there was evidence of flotsam and jetsam on the banks. Sometimes you get the feeling that the day is a remarkable one but this was not such a day, mundane is the wrong term but it certainly felt a little that way. 

There were no walkers about, in fact I didn't pass another soul for about half an hour as I trudged along the bankside. It was one of those days where some might believe that the lord is on your side. As I walked along the rivers edge I mused that it was at this time in previous years that I have seen a pair of Mandarin Ducks overwintering as soon as this thought coalesced and then dissipated a splatter of disturbed water and the flap of wings alerted me to the presence of a duck flushed from the overhanging willows on the far bank. I suspected it was a Teal but was amazed to see a drake Mandarin streak down river and skid to a halt.

This was the start of a remarkable count. None of the species are remarkable in their nature, each and everyone is common or at least expected on my patch, what was unusual was the fact that so many were seen in the hour and a half I was out  and of these many of the regulars such as the Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail or Dunnock were not recorded.

On this average of average winter days I recorded a total of 29 different species of bird. To put this in context the average species count is anywhere between 17 and 20 species.  29 is a number typical of a summer visit. The arrival of winter visitors such as the Redwing, Siskin and Little Egret certainly helped as did the return of Little Grebe to the site.

Back home I ran through my records to get a little insight. I last had such a similar species count in May with 28 and June with 27. I had to go back to the 16th December 2023 to beat it with 30 species. I had always considered summer with all the migrants to have the highest species count and I think in terms of monthly counts this is still true.

So what did I see to rack up such a list in order of sighting -

Little Grebe
Blackbird

Song Thrush

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Wren

Robin

Magpie

Jackdaw

Cormorant

Goldfinch

Woodpigeon

Blue Tit

Grey Heron

Mallard

Great Tit

Long tailed Tit

Chiffchaff

Carrion Crow

Mandarin Duck

Jay

Black headed Gull

Moorhen

Sparrowhawk

Pied Wagtail

Little Egret

Buzzard

Chaffinch

Siskin

Redwing

It remains to be seen if such species counts continue over the next few weeks.