- In bold type are sightings that are uncommon either by rarity, date or number seen.
- Click on photos for a larger version.
Sunday 31st January:
Lea Farm GP – m. Goldeneye, pair Reed Bunting (J Vaughan)
Dinton Pastures/golf course – 4+ Lesser Redpoll (FJC)
Friday 29th January:
Landfill – 2 Little Owl flew from nest hole in oak tree near Lea Farm at dusk (Brian Bennett)
Thursday 28th January:
Lea Farm GP – 2 Snipe, 2 Long-tailed Tit on feeder, Kingfisher, 2 f. Reed Bunting (R Marsh)
Lavell’s Lake – Bittern flew on to main island, near Sand Martin bank at c8.30, Tawny Owl (M Seward); Cetti’s Warbler near Jerry’s bench, Bullfinch, Goldcrest (L Garner-Langham); Sparrowhawk, Long-tailed Tit on feeder (R Marsh)
White Swan Lake – 2 drk. Goldeneye (R Dawson); Bullfinch, Song Thrush (L Garner-Langham)
Sandford Lake – drk. Goldeneye (R Dawson)
Middle Marsh – Ferruginous Duck (R Dawson)
Monday 25th January:
Lea Farm GP – 5 Snipe, 2 Skylark displaying over landfill, Common Gull (R Marsh)
Lavell’s Lake – pair Bullfinch, 2 Goldcrest, 6 Redwing (L Garner-Langham); 2 Little Egret, Kestrel (R Marsh)
Sandford Lake – m. Goldeneye (L Garner-Langham); 2 Snipe (R Marsh)
White Swan Lake – m. Goldeneye (R Marsh)
Dinton Pastures/golf course – 30+ Lesser Redpoll flew to trees at south end of old golf course (R Marsh)
Mortimer’s Meadow – 12 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing, Great Spotted Woodpecker (R Marsh)
Sunday 24th January:
Lavell’s Lake – Bittern from Teal hide (M Seward)
Dinton Pastures/children’s playground – 50+ Lesser Redpoll ranging from here to south end of golf course (Brian Bennett); Cetti’s Warbler singing close to Jerry’s bench, Water Rail on north shore, Kingfisher to right of Teal hide (P Bright-Thomas)
Saturday 23rd January:
Lea Farm GP – Shelduck (FJC); 2 Little Egret, Nuthatch (M Walford)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Bittern, 2 Water Rail, 4 Snipe, Cetti’s Warbler heard, Little Egret (G Emmett et al) * Gavin Turner has a photo of one of the Bitterns in flight here
Heron’s Water – Ferruginous Duck (M Walford)
Landfill – c50 Golden Plover over to north of LFGP (M Walford)
Bittern (G Emmett)
NB: Photos confirm that neither of the birds seen at Lavell’s today are the White Swan Lake individual, so it appears that we now have three present on DP.
Friday 22nd January:
Lavell’s Lake – Bittern from Teal hide (M Seward et al); Water Rail from Bittern hide (B May) * Martin Seward has a great photo of the Bittern here
White Swan Lake – Bittern – (M l’Anson)
Thursday 21st January:
Lea Farm GP – Little Egret, 2 Snipe (R Marsh)
Lavell’s Lake – Bittern flew from main island to north shore and slowly made it’s way along to the Tern scrape (P Scudamore et al); 2 Water Rail, Snipe, Little Grebe, Cetti’s Warbler (R Marsh et al) * Steven Day has a great pic of the Cetti’s here
White Swan Lake – Bittern (FJC) * Fraser has more info & pics showing the different colouring of the two DP birds on his blog here
Bittern, F Cottington
Wednesday 20th January:
Lavell’s Lake – Great White Egret over at 17.05, flew towards Sandford Lake but not seen again (FJC); Little Grebe, 2 Snipe, Nuthatch (L Garner-Langham)
White Swan Lake – Sparrowhawk, 2 Kingfisher (R Price); 2 Redwing, Goldcrest (L Garner-Langham)
Tuesday 19th January:
Lavell’s Lake – 4 Snipe (R Price)
White Swan Lake – 2 Bittern (J McGowan)
Monday 18th January:
Lea Farm GP – Little Egret, fem. Sparrowhawk, 6 Greylag Geese (G Emmett)
White Swan Lake – Ferruginous Duck, m. Goldeneye (L Garner-Langham)
Sandford Lake – 2 m. Goldeneye, Goldcrest, Treecreeper (L Garner-Langham)
* A juvenile Mute Swan found wandering along Sandford Lane was guided to safety by Richard Sajdak & Ralph Watts, then re-located from the side of Sandford Lake to Black Swan Lake by Alan Rymer. We suspect it had originally been chased off Sandford Lake by the resident adults, who didn’t seem happy at the prospect of it returning!
Sunday 17th January:
Lea Farm GP – Little Egret, Snipe (M Walford)
Lavell’s Lake – Barn Owl in box at dusk (MFW); 2 Snipe, 1 Water Rail seen & at least 2 more heard calling, Cetti’s Wabler (M Walford)
Black Swan Lake – Grey Wagtail over sailing club (M Walford)
White Swan Lake – Lesser Redpoll in trees between WSL & BSL (M Walford), Bittern (FJC)
Sandford Lake – 3 m. Goldeneye, Snipe (M Walford)
Saturday 16th January:
Lea Farm GP – Green Sandpiper in front of hide, 2 Common Gull, Little Egret over (G Emmett)
Lavell’s Lake – Little Egret, Water Rail (J McGowan); 2 Snipe (R Marsh); 2 Nuthatch (A Rymer), Sparrowhawk (R Price)
Landfill – Little Owl in oak tree near Lea Farm (FJC) Link to a photo here
White Swan Lake – Bittern at dusk (R Stansfield); Ferruginous Duck (R Price); m. Goosander, Kingfisher, Common Gull (L Garner-Langham)
Dinton Pastures – 10 Siskin (S Day)
Drake Goosander, L Garner-Langham
Green Sandpiper, G Emmett
Friday 15th January:
Lea Farm GP – Snipe, 2 Nuthatch, fem. Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk, Lesser Black-backed Gull, 5 Stock Dove, Goldcrest near green bridge (R Marsh)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Little Grebe, m. Bullfinch (R Marsh)
Landfill – Little Egret over going north, pair Pintail flew north from the balancing pool, 2 Raven flew over South East (FJC)
Sandford Lake – pair Red-crested Pochard (FJC)
White Swan Lake – Bittern at dusk (FJC)
Thursday 14th January:
Lea Farm GP – 12 Wigeon, 2 fem. Pochard, 30+ Shoveler over, m. Goldeneye (G Emmett)
Lavell’s Lake – Little Egret, Water Rail, Sparrowhawk, 2 Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, 5 Fieldfare, 12 Redwing (L Seward)
Sandford Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard, m. Goldeneye (R Dawson)
Dinton Pastures – 5 Goldcrest, pair Bullfinch, 6 Siskin (R Dawson)
Wednesday 13th January:
Black Swan Lake – Grey Wagtail flew over sluice towards Lavell’s (FJC)
Sandford Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard (FJC)
Sunday 10th January:
Lea Farm GP – 440 Lapwing (R Righelato)
Lavell’s Lake – c200 Golden Plover seen in the distance, towards Twyford, from top of car park field (M Walford)
Sandford Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard, 91 Pochard (FJC)
Saturday 9th January:
Landfill – Kestrel (FJC)
Friday 8th January:
Lavell’s Lake – 18 Pochard, Little Grebe (FJC)
Sandford Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard (FJC)
White Swan Lake – Ferruginous Duck, m. Goldeneye (P Kendall)
Landfill – Little Owl peering from usual hole in oak tree (FJC)
Thursday 7th January:
Lavell’s Lake – Woodcock circled Teal scrape twice at dusk (FJC)
Sandford Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard (FJC)
Tuesday 5th January:
DP/Aviation Museum – 4 Fieldfare, Goldcrest (R Marsh) NB: No access to Lavell’s etc. via Sandford Lane due to flooding.
Monday 4th January:
Sandford Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard (Brian Bennett)
Sunday 3rd January:
Lea Farm GP – Peregrine over Lodge Wood (FJC)
Saturday 2nd January:
Lea Farm GP – Water Rail in reeds by feeders (M Walford)
Lavell’s Lake – Coal Tit & Chiffchaff near green bridge (M Walford); Nuthatch on feeders (FJC); Woodcock flushed from trees between Teal hide & Sandford Lane (L Matthews)
Dinton Pastures/Golf course – Mistle Thrush, Kestrel (Brian Bennett)
Friday 1st January:
Lea Farm GP – pair Pintail, 2 Greylag Geese, 3 Rook (Brian Bennett); flock of 60+ Golden Plover flew north, high over Lodge Wood (B May)
Lavell’s Lake – fem. Red-crested Pochard (FJC); 2 Snipe, 15+ Redwing, Fieldfare, Goldcrest (R Marsh); Bittern flew south over path to Bittern hide late afternoon, Barn Owl flew to nest box (M Walford), Water Rail (R Watts)
Black Swan Lake – 2 drk. Goldeneye (Brian Bennett)
White Swan Lake – 20+ Siskin (Brian Bennet); Ferruginous Duck (FJC), Kingfisher (M Mitchell)
