A fair bit on at home today so no intention of going far. Saw the fog when I got up so just went for a walk from Chiseldon to Hodson and back. It was pretty hard going with even the tops of some trees disappearing into the fog. It seemed that every other bird I looked at was a Blue Tit. I heard a couple of Buzzards fly over, but no chance of seeing them. Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were vocal with two out of five seen. A couple of Marsh Tits were nice. When I stopped for my coffee I decided to test out Malcolm’s fourth law of birding, “that if you look at a tree for long enough you will eventually see something interesting”. It doesn’t work! I tried it on three trees and all I managed to see was four Blue Tits, and nothing else!! Things improved slightly with a Goldcrest, Grey Wagtail and a small flock of Redwing. Final birds seen were a couple of Common Gull on the green near the house.
In the late afternoon a quick circuit of Coate Water with the dog but nothing much of interest, three Goosander about the best and no sign of the Bittern.
A bit of a quiet end to January’s birding as I am not likely to see anything on Monday and Tuesday as there is still not enough light either side of wokr.
wiltshirebirder 