Friday, March 01, 2013
Burnham Beeches
Blimey, no wonder there are no Mandarin ducks in the now-full moat or any of the puddles that have sprung up across the Beeches, which might reasonably be expected this time of year. This Far-eastern lady, swathed in a large coat and sitting behind a tree, was scattering handfuls of food on the far bank of Upper Pond and then photographing the ducks (17 drakes, fewer females) as they made a rush for it. There was even a moorhen pecking about nearby.
The pond provides a good opportunity to get close to Mandarins (are they really feathers?!) but it's never so thrilling seeing them here as it is elsewhere in the woods, where they feel "wilder".
This is one of the chiffchaffs on the Roundmoor Ditch at Eton Wick. It might be the Siberian one - or it might not be. Either way it's a sweet little bird. It was taken yesterday; the white-fronted geese were still present and there were three shelducks, sometimes in Berks and sometimes in Bucks.
This snap caught two chiffchaffs by chance; but are they "specials"? Not sure.
As for today, it was another futile attempt to see a lesser spotted woodpecker. I couldn't check the entire area, of course; nobody could. So I'll just hope that one or two are still around, somewhere.
// posted by Christine @ 9:28 AM 
