There has been little time for birding over Christmas but we did manage a short visit to Belvide on Boxing Day. Before we left my Mum’s house we had seen a small flock of Redwings feeding on the berries on the Rowan tree in Mum’s garden. This may have been the inspiration to get out and see some birds. On arrival at Belvide we donned our wellies and headed for the first hide which is in the woods. Nearly all of the usual species were around, including Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long tailed tit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Pheasant, Jay, Woodpigeon and a Sparrowhawk was sitting in a nearby tree.
Our next stop was at the main reservoir hide where we could see plenty of Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot, Great Crested Grebe and Goldeneye. We were hoping to see the Long tailed Ducks which are supposed to be here but, although we saw a couple of distant ducks near the dam, we could not be sure they were the ones. A little Wren showed nicely just below the hide but the reported Water Rail sadly failed to show. After sitting there for a while my toes had gone numb with cold so we decided to call it a day. At the car park we spotted a small flock of Redwings on the adjacent field, but could not pick out any Fieldfare which we would have liked to add to our list. When we got back to Mum’s we checked the Rowan tree again and were happy to find that a few Fieldfare had now arrived, how lucky is that? Perhaps we should have just stayed at home in the warm?