Nothing to see - hear!

Standing having a natter with Martin S in the general area of the recent #titgate affair and we got around to birds that the site should be perfect for but haven't been recorded there. We'd just mentioned Cetti's, when one gave a blast from the reeds. We hung around for a fair old while after and did get the usual fleeting views, followed by calls from its new position, but not even a chance of a blog standard record shot.

Another one I thought I'd missed this year.

The next bird on the missing list was Bittern........

Jim

Blinkin', flippin', hard work...

Nine hours and 18 miles in the field this weekend and bugger all to show for it apart from an aching thigh. Unable to [zero-carbon] self-find Golden Plover, Barn Owl and Crossbill and I can't find a Pochard within walking distance...which, realistically, are the easier species I have left to go for this month. Anything else would be a bonus/ surprise/ stroke of luck.

And we still have February to come, which in birding terms isn't so much a month as a state of mind.

How are we treating Cetti's Warbler at 'known/ traditional sites?' Contentious...

I have passed three BirdTrack milestones this week however: 40,000 total records, 1,000 total lists and 1,000 records for 2014. Not a bad dataset is developing, although I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it.

DOM

Tawny Owls and Cetti's

This morning, my plan was to leave home at 06:15, in order to arrive at the Ivel Valley for dawn. On my way, a pair of Tawny Owls duetting from a copse at Oak Farm was a splendid way to start my day.

Things were predictably slow at the New Road Workings; a couple of Snipe, but no sight nor sound of the Cetti's. I did manage to convert Wigeon into a zero-carbon tick.

Next, to Warren Villas and the fog descended - visibility was now no more than 50m. On the western side of the nature reserve, I was surprised to hear a Cetti's give a single explosive phrase of song. During 2013, I had CW on six occasions at New Road - always in the same reedbed. This, however, was about 0.5m away on the far side of Warren Villas. The same bird? Well I can't be sure. Strictly speaking, the situation is no different to the Marston Vale birds that people have been ticking, but:

1) I am not so desperate
2) The only person I am competing against is myself

Until I hear a bird at New Road then a bird at Warren Villas shortly afterwards, it stays out.

After converting Teal to a zero-carbon tick, met up with Richard and we had a look at Broom. No rare grebes, but a flock of Shoveler were my first of the year (Steve and I managed to avoid Shoveler during the entire duration of the duck hunt!) However, I can't tick these either because others have already done so.

[Edit. As at 21-Jan:
Year list: 90, SFYL: 88, zero-carbon: 81, BirdTrack records: 619, BirdTrack lists: 16]

Atb,

DOM

Three more

A visit to Broom on 6th found an Oyc on the island, and an evening at the Willington GP washout pit looking for the Bittern (unsuccessfully) found a Cetti's hopping along the iced up reedbed and a surprise two Corn Buntings in trees on the edge of the reedbed, before flying off south at dusk.