22nd February 2009

I did my second WeBS counts at the lakes from 8:00 am to 11:10 am - I'm still spending probably far too much time at each pool, as my predecessor seems to have generally spent 20-30 minutes at each! At Terry's Pool, saw 13 Tufted Ducks and 1 Greylag Goose, as well as 1 Treecreeper, 1 or 2 Nuthatch and 1 or 2 Song Thrush around the edges. At the Mereside Fishing Pools, 2 Jays were seen and a Green Woodpecker heard. At Engine Pool, a Cormorant dropped in briefly. At Windmill Pool, saw a Kingfisher and (later) a Buzzard fly over, and 14+ Siskins north of the sailing club.
With the WeBS counts over, I decided to go to the canal feeder as I'd missed it earlier and was rewarded with a sighting of a Water Rail at c. 11:55 am, albeit about a two-second glimpse of one swimming across the water from one side of the channel to the other; I wonder if it was a different bird to the one I saw two weeks ago? For those interested in locating this species at the lakes, WeBS data that I have access to indicate that as well as Windmill Pool (where 2 were seen once), a Water Rail was seen at Terry's Pool back in December 1995.
At the Hungry Horse during the early afternoon, I saw 75 Golden Plovers, 8 Stock Doves, 2 Rooks (my first at this part of Earlswood!) and 2 Jays in the surrounding field. In another field along Norton Lane, I saw 44 Fieldfares, 7 Redwings, 1 Mistle Thrush and 8 Starlings.
M.P. Griffiths

P.S. I also saw 2 Skylarks foraging on the ground in a certain field where I saw 1 or more previously.