Not Quite So Floody Marvelous!

 With the past week having seen quite a bit of rain and even a fall of snow I decided to take my exercise walk along the Welland Valley by way of East Carlton Park. Our local council have closed the car park here due to the current lockdown and I hoped that the mutt masses might have been diminished somewhat since my last visit. With a decent amount of sunshine and some blue skies to enjoy it turned out to be a pleasant stroll in milder conditions than of late.

Starling and Nuthatch.

Walking through Corby I passed the town's boating lake where the drake Pochard continues its stay, this is the only one that I've seen this year in the county. Leaving the town brought a sighting of a Raven near the Fourways garage that seemed to be playing a version of musical pylons as flew from one to the other. Perhaps the biggest surprise came along the Harborough Road near Cottingham where a fine looking male Blackcap was noted, although some lucky people have had them visit their gardens I've never seen a January one in the county before.

Rook and Wood Pigeon

Dog numbers were great reduced at East Carlton though that didn't help me find any of the hoped for Bramblings. What I did see was a good selection of the commoner woodland species including Nuthatch and some rather attractive looking Bullfinches. From here I made my way to the valley via Middleton and Cottingham and I was pleased to see that the floods had returned. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything to match last month's Bewick's Swans and most of the birds that I did see were either Common or Black-headed Gulls. Beyond Rockingham there was a small selection of dabbling ducks on the Rutland side of the border while a flock of Lapwings nearer Gretton contained a single Golden Plover.

Welland Valley Wildfowl

After a heart testing yomp up the hill from the valley bottom I found myself close to Brookfield Plantation. A fox was a nice find as I don't see much in the way of native mammals and it certainly made a change from Grey Squirrels! One of the larger puddles had attracted a Green Sandpiper which flew up calling noisily before disappearing in the direction of the valley. Brookfield was rather quiet with just Siskin and Grey Wagtail being noteworthy though the day ended on an almost predictable high with the sighting of a Peregrine at its favoured spot. It did at least give me the chance to try my latest camera out, hope you enjoy yet another Peregrine pic!

Take a wild guess!