Somerset -12th February

 On the weekend of the 12th February we were staying in the Cotswolds, Sarah had a pre-birthday bash with her sisters arranged and so I headed out on a mini-twitch, First stop was at Greylake RSPB where a male Baikal Teal has been present since 9th December 2021. The bird showed well but was asleep for much of the time that I was there. Having seen a flock of 450,000 in South Korea in January 2020 I did question why I had driven for over an hour to see a single bird, see photos and video here. However, this is a fantastic site with large numbers of wildfowl present, I also saw Marsh Harrier and up to seven Great Egret. My eBird checklist for the site can be viewed here.

I then headed to Weston Airfield where I had good views of two Penduline Tit feeding on Greater Reedmace seed heads with a third bird heard nearby. There have been up to three birds present at this site since 21st December. My eBird checklist for the site can be viewed here.

Eurasian Penduline-tit, Longford, Gloucestershire - 22nd December

A male Eurasian Penduline-tit had been present on the small wetland at Plock Court, Longford since 16th December and with a long break at our cottage in Cowley over the festive period I was keen to pop by and see this bird. Bearing a ring, it was ringed on the 28/10/17 on Alderney, Channel Islands as a first-calendar year female, see here. On my arrival at Plock Court the bird was skulking in the Greater Reedmace (these are not Phragmites or Reeds as most of the birders on site were stating) and I had fleeting glimpses before the bird flew to a new patch of Reedmace and showed well often associating with a male Stonechat. The bird then flew to the boundary hedgerow and showed well in the gloomy conditions for the next 30 minutes or so. This male is remarkably close to Horsbere Flood Alleviation where two males spent much of January and February 2016, these birds were the second and third birds recorded in Gloucestershire. The habitat at Plock Court is very limited in extent and it will be interesting to see how long this bird sticks.

The Eurasian Penduline-tit often associated with this male Stonechat