The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The silence of deep snow, the silence of wonder......the silence. Freezing fog diffused weak lemon sunshine, sunshine that swindles you from such a fireball origin.

Redwing, song thrush, blackbird and wren flush from the hearts of hawthorn. Long tailed tit hunt the underside of snow laden branches and reed bunting tug at frozen reed seedheads. A bearded tit haunted Chowder reed islands where sheets of ice are strewn across the shoreline. Pink feet populate the fog.

Where running water resists the freeze a snipe shares company with teal and the crowd of wildfowl get even closer together, coot, gadwall, tufted duck, little and great crested grebe, shoveler and a hopeful heron.

Evey snowflake that fell had been preserved, every branch, reed stem or thistle carried the winter burden. A nature reserve has suspended life for now.

and a dashing Merlin flew north leaving the county behind to disappear into Yorkshire -- it was eerily silent on most of Waters' Edge with so few birds seemingly present -- I fear we have seen and heard the last of the Cetti's Warblers and Kingfishers may well follow -- the Humber had a layer of frozen pack ice 20cm thick for 200m across the mudflats today -- a very sorry sight was a lone Ringed Plover wandering around on the frozen mud in a vain search for life giving food; flocks of Pink-feet with no fields to feed on drifted back and forth along the estuary -- hard times for birds and please avoid disturbing anything that has found a feeding area free from ice and snow
forgot the lone Bittern on the ice at Far Ings

Well put both of you .It is looking like this spell of weather is going to hit the avian community pretty badly,especially the water birds,lets hope the Bitterns etc survive ok.



Steve.

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