SNOWS CAME

After the snow flurries during Sunday at the country park, more snow arrived overnight and into the first part of the morning of Monday 2nd. It all looked very pretty for a few hours such as this view above of the car park, as the snow just managed to cover the ground with an average of 1 - 2 inches of snow in places.

The main part of the park pictured above had its thickest covering of snow by the late morning. By mid afternoon the snow had turned to sleet and then rain and by late evening most of the snow around the park had vanished.

During the brief walk around the park the only birds noted were several blackbirds and a couple of song thrushes feeding under the trees on the clifftop. Most of the grazing fields were deserted except for 5 snipe out in the open, 6 gadwall in a slushy pool and some of the wigeon grazing. The usual ducks such as shoveler, teal, gadwall, mallard and tufted duck were still to be seen on the park pond which remained unfrozen with a snipe feeding nearby.

It didn't seem possible while it was snowing during Monday morning, that it would all have completely disappeared by Tuesday morning the following day. The two pictures above and below are taken from the same spot 24 hours apart.

Having savoured the brief covering of snow on the Monday, it was equally nice to see the sun shining throughout Tuesday over the park. Four fieldfares flew over the car park first thing, 10 blackbirds and 2 song thrushes and a kestrel were also in the car park area.

At the Point one snow bunting was present on the beach, while 5 red-breasted mergansers flew past in the late afternoon and a little egret flew east to its evening roost. The incoming tide allowed close views of the regular waders here with lots of dunlin, redshank, knot, turnstone, ringed plover and grey plover.

On the grazing fields at least 300 wigeon fed, with a few teal, shoveler and gadwall seen feeding on one of the pools. Skulking amongst the grass tussocks were 14 snipe, also a few black-tailed godwits, redshank, curlew, 25 lapwing and 20 golden plover. Five stock doves perched in a tree to the rear of the fields. A harrier, most likely a marsh harrier, passed high over the fields heading north to the Langenhoe roost.

Martin Cock during his late afternoon visit to the Pyefleet near Shop Lane, counted 10 marsh harriers gathering over Langenhoe for the night-time roost along with the rare sight these days of a ringtail hen harrier. At dusk a woodcock flew over the small wood at the north end of Shop Lane and also here 2 little egrets roosted for the night and 10 yellowhammers roosted near here.