GREAT WHITE EGRET HUNT SUN 30TH OCT 2011

I won't beat about the bush, I didn't find it, the Gt White Egret that is. It's most likely moved on, my dip will soon become somebody else's tick when it pitches up somewhere new.

Anyway I still saw some quite nice bits and pieces this morning, including several small flocks of Fieldfares which were seen and heard over and in the sunken marsh as well as a few very shy Redwings in the SW corner.

Having given up on the Great White I decided to have a river watch from the small wood, thankfully the black bucket was still there and provided me with a (nearly) comfortable seat for the next hour or so. During this time some of the birds I saw included, six Skylarks which flew overhead in ones and twos. Two Little Egrets who fished on the river in the company of the ever present Grey Herons. A Sparrowhawk hunting briefly and unsuccessfully over towards the north downs. A single Redshank, the first i've seen for a while probing the mud and successfully extricating long worms which it ate with apparent relish. A flock of Long-tailed Tits cheerfully working their way along the trees behind me, where a couple of Bullfinches also called and a small group of nine Lapwings, who floated in and inspected the area in front of me before landing briefly and then heading off downstream again. It was too grey and dark for photos, how many times will I say that over the next five months or so. But since there are currently loads of Mallards on the river, here's one I took earlier, as they say.