Driveway Pipit and a Snowy Bedgebury

With the snow, ice and subzero temperatures remaining, the garden has continued to attract interesting visitors. On Friday (10th) there was a Song Thrush, Redwing and a party of 7 Long-tailed Tits, while yesterday (11th) Thrushes dominated with 3 Blackbirds (2 males), 5 Redwing, 2 Song Thrushes and 2 Mistle Thrushes. A surprise bird was a Meadow Pipit, which Dad flushed off of the driveway when he opened the front door. The bird then returned later to the cleared drive to feed once more. The final highlight were two Goldfinch, briefly on the seed feeder.

The afternoon (11th) was spent with Angela and the parents wandering around a snow covered Bedgebury Pinetum.

Snowy Bedgebury Pinetum

At times it was tough going, but a good list of woodland birds were seen and/or heard. There were many Goldcrests and Coal Tits calling with an extremely confiding Goldcrest near the northern toilet block. The northern Forest Office feeding station held the greatest concentration of birds, with Blue and Great Tits, Pheasant, 2 Dunnocks, Song Thrush, Jay, several Siskins and Lesser Redpolls, Nuthatches, male Bullfinch and a party of 6 Crossbills flying over (with 2 briefly settling in the pines). We then headed back to the finch roosting area near the fallen tree where, amongst a group of c10 Greenfinch and several Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and Chaffinch, we located two separate HAWFINCHES perched in the top of the trees. A surprise male Tawny Owl hooted twice at around 15:15 while we were watching the gathering finches. With the cold starting to bite we headed back to the visitor centre where a small patch of free water on the lake held a number of Mallard plus a couple of Coot and Moorhen. A drumming male Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Wren rounded off another enjoyable visit.

Visitor Centre Lake - complete with Mallard, Coot & Moorhen

The journey home added a Red-legged Partridge on the road near Goudhurst, with Mum spotting a Common Buzzard near Bethersden.

So far today (12th), we have added Pied Wagtail and another male Greenfinch to the growing list of garden birds visiting since the snowfall.