Holme Reserves!

Spent the morning helping my parents along with more shopping and ironing!!! A freezing cold and windy day – no sun in the afternoon at all.

Parked up on the NOA carpark. Walked to the NWT Forestry and saw 1 woodpigeon, 1 Whitethroat and 2 Linnets. Lots of scrub has been removed in the Forestry, some areas looked good, others not in my opinion. Very poor birding today. Walked back and then strolled to the furthest hide at the Wader Pools. 8 Barnacle Geese were mixed in with the Canada Geese which was a surprise, other than that very little of note. Crossed the Firs Road to the dunes to look at the sea and saw 1 Sanderling scrurrying along the shore. The entire beach was deserted on a bank holiday weekend – shows how cold it was!

Drove back along the Firs Road and listened to a Grasshopper Warbler reeling just after the 5-bar gate, also saw a Cuckoo briefly. Parked by Redwell Marsh NOA and sat in the hide for a while watching Swallows skimming over the pool, 1 Avocet, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Shelduck and Black-headed Gulls.

Returned to my parent's house for a short while to see Vivien who had visited this afternoon. Drove back via Ringstead and photographed Grey and Red-legged Patridges and then realised I had the camera on the wrong settings! Not the most exciting of days at all!