The Whitlingham Bird Report for 2023 is now available to download from the Bird Reports page or from here

WHITLINGHAM: First visit of the year

1st January 2019

Having spent new year's eve at home (impossible to describe it as a quiet night in because nearby households had managed to accumulate more fireworks than the televised London display) my morning birding consisted of staring out of the lounge window. This was reasonably productive, with 15 species seen. Unfortunately that probably represents about half of my annual house list, but there we go. As we left the house some Godfinches called nearby, and later a Pied Wagtail flew across Queen's Road.

We had planned quite a short walk along the southern edge of the Great Broad in case Rose got cold or upset, but actually because she likes dogs as well as birds she probably thought Whitlingham was an amazing wildlife park. A Pheasant on Trowse Meadow became my first patch bird of the year, and in total we recorded 29 species. As always there were some big omissions, mostly amongst the smaller birds, but Goldeneye and Stock Dove were decent first-day birds. The highlight was a flock of 14 Brambling along the Lime Tree Avenue. There was quite a big flock of Black-headed Gulls around the slipway, but no ringed ones.

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