WHITLINGHAM: Feb counts, Redpolls and moss

9th February 2013

Some unspectacular winter wildfowl counts today, with 104 Tufties, 92 Pochard, 134 Coot and 263 Black-headed Gulls the highest figures. 3 Little Grebes and a first sighting in a while for the Little Hybrid Goose probably edged it for most interesting water-borne birds. Luckily there was more of interest along the shore of the Little Broad. Seeing more Siskins than normal, I worked my way through the large flock, finding around ten Lesser Redpolls, and most pleasingly a Mealy Redpoll. A Goldcrest appeared right in front of me, but clearly wasn't keen on being photographed.

Little Hybrid Goose. It's like an old friend now, but noisier

 Lesser Redpolls

Siskin

Before leaving I returned to the Little Broad and carpark to look for a few more bits for my TG2507 all-taxa list. This mainly consisted of a few more plants (and poxy lichens - if there is a lichenologist living in Norwich then please get in touch!), but I did get a couple of nice mosses. A couple of Treecreepers and a flyover Fieldfare were also handy additions. A calling Nuthatch makes it onto this list but frustratingly I couldn't find it so it stays off my patch year list (I know, too many lists...)

Wall Screw Moss (centre of photo). If you can ID any other lichens or mosses in the picture then please leave a message in the comments!