My first visit to the patch this year on Saturday morning heralded 55 species which is right on the money in terms what I usually score for any opening day salvo, the highlights of a very enjoyable circuit of the Flats/Park with my compadre Jono was a bonus Little Owl perched out in the open in East Copse and a Firecrest! Yes...a bloody Firecrest - you go the whole of 2017 without seeing one and your first visit to Bush Wood and bingo! This absolute gem of a bird lit-up even then darkest clumps of Holly Bush, calling and flitting just a few feet from the pair us - Simply Magical!
As is normal with any opening day visit of the year, it's also notable for the birds you didn't see than the ones you did and there were a couple of absolute howlers, Dunnock being the best - How did I not see a Dunnock? And then there was no Collared Dove and no Redwing, Fiedfare, Mistle Thrush or Kestrel. It's all to be expected really and only adds to the fun of restarting the numbers game back to zero and going again...
So until my next visit to the patch, when I guarantee Dunnock will fall...Happy New Year and best of birding to you all for 2018.
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