Back To Winter.......

Pye's Hall.

Covenham Reservoir.

Well it felt like it first thing today as Chris and myself headed for the coast,with a chilly northerly blowing.The trip down to Donna Nook was livened up by a couple of great sightings in the form of a Badger crossing the road infront of us between Grainthorpe and Conisholme,giving good views and a Barn Owl hunting along roadside fields at Conisholme.So after these couple of superb sightings we reached our first destination and did some serious coverage of the NNR walking all the way to quad 3 and then all the way to Pye's Hall with very little return.The most notable sighting was a single male Ruff on the flashes at Quad 3,a singing male Corn Bunting,4 Chiffchaff and another couple of mammalian sightings in the form of a Fox and 2 beautiful Roe Deer,Chris also managed to see a Muntjac which i sadly missed.So after all this exercise,we made the short journey over to Covenham and completed the whole circuit of the Res,with the highlight being the long staying 1st winter Red-throated Diver,which spent all its time we observed it fishing in the centre of the Reservoir.Also seen here were 4 Goldeneye still hanging on,3 Common Buzzard and a decent count of 24 Pied Wagtail.It was great to see the Diver was still ok as their were reports that it was slightly oiled and he or she was very energetic in its feeding activity.Other commoner birds included some superb views of the now nesting Rooks at the Southern end of the res,with some of the nests not looking too safe in the blowy northerly.I love to hear their calls,one of the best countryside sounds in my book!.A very trying day today with the weather conditions,but you don't find anything if you stay in.