I haven't posted for ages even though I've had quite a lot to write about, I got out of the habit unfortunately. I need to sit down and write up some entries for the trip I took to north Norfolk at the start of December - that was pretty special and you'll have to excuse me if I write quite a bit about that as I saw a lot that I'd not seen before, especially large flocks!
So what's been happening around here? Well, the cold weather around Christmas and New Year brought a lot of new activity to Chelmsford and I have found plenty going on around the Baddow Meads floodmeadow. Lots of Stonechats had moved to the river here and on the meadows some big flocks of Starlings, Redwings, Meadow Pipits, Reed Buntings, Fieldfares were about, plus I had quite a lot of sightings of Grey Herons, Cormorants and Little Egrets too. During the snowy period recently I also had Redwings visiting my garden for the first time, coming in to feed on ivy berries. The parks and riverside trees in town have been alive with winter thrushes, as have the local orchards. Redwings, Fieldfares, Blackbirds, Mistle and Song Thrushes have all been very visible while snow was on the ground, but they are dispersing now that the weather is warmer again.
On the 19th of December I saw a Snipe flying over the Baddow Meads, a first for me and rather exciting to see, plus there have been varying numbers of Goosander at Central Park and at Springfield Lock, the greatest number I saw was at the Lock on the 7th of January when there were 27! Have also seen Gadwall and Tufted Ducks around Springfield Lock too, I've only ever seen Gadwall in Norfolk before so great to see them in the local area.
On Friday I went along with a work party for the BTVC to do some voluntary work at Galleywood Common. Six of us spent the day removing gorse that is smothering the heather heathland, an extremely rare habitat in Essex now. There's a vast amount of work still to do there and some gorse had already been cleared too but we made a fair impression. We didn't see much wildlife during the day but we did find a Pigmy Shrew running around in the gorse, the first time I've seen one alive! It was very satisfying to give back something to a place I've spent a reasonable amount of time wandering around, although I'm certainly paying for it in aching muscles!
So what's been happening around here? Well, the cold weather around Christmas and New Year brought a lot of new activity to Chelmsford and I have found plenty going on around the Baddow Meads floodmeadow. Lots of Stonechats had moved to the river here and on the meadows some big flocks of Starlings, Redwings, Meadow Pipits, Reed Buntings, Fieldfares were about, plus I had quite a lot of sightings of Grey Herons, Cormorants and Little Egrets too. During the snowy period recently I also had Redwings visiting my garden for the first time, coming in to feed on ivy berries. The parks and riverside trees in town have been alive with winter thrushes, as have the local orchards. Redwings, Fieldfares, Blackbirds, Mistle and Song Thrushes have all been very visible while snow was on the ground, but they are dispersing now that the weather is warmer again.
On the 19th of December I saw a Snipe flying over the Baddow Meads, a first for me and rather exciting to see, plus there have been varying numbers of Goosander at Central Park and at Springfield Lock, the greatest number I saw was at the Lock on the 7th of January when there were 27! Have also seen Gadwall and Tufted Ducks around Springfield Lock too, I've only ever seen Gadwall in Norfolk before so great to see them in the local area.
On Friday I went along with a work party for the BTVC to do some voluntary work at Galleywood Common. Six of us spent the day removing gorse that is smothering the heather heathland, an extremely rare habitat in Essex now. There's a vast amount of work still to do there and some gorse had already been cleared too but we made a fair impression. We didn't see much wildlife during the day but we did find a Pigmy Shrew running around in the gorse, the first time I've seen one alive! It was very satisfying to give back something to a place I've spent a reasonable amount of time wandering around, although I'm certainly paying for it in aching muscles!
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