Ring-necked At Ringstead

 Temperatures today were definitely cooler than they were on my last outing  but that did not stop Alan Shorrock and I braving the weather and venturing out. Our first port of call was at Woodford where we hoped to catch up with the Cattle Egrets which had been seen yesterday before heading off down the valley to Ringstead. While there was the occasional flurry of snow during the day it was for the most part rather dry and sunny.

Stock Dove and great White Egret

Sadly there were no Cattle Egrets at Woodford during our visit though pictures on Twitter suggest that they did pay a call at some point during the day, we may just have been too early. One egret was present and that was a Great White feeding in the shallows before it flew off down river. Plenty of other  birds were on view and these included some Stock Doves, several Kites and a Kestrel. We gave the site at least half an hour before we moved on to Kinewell Lake at Ringstead.

Mediterranean Gull

At Kinewell Lake, Ringstead we hoped to catch up with the reported Ring-necked Duck and managed to find the bird without too much effort. Often distant the bird gave half decent scope views though trying to get pics proved to be a massive challenge. Our circuit of the lake failed to add any Cattle Egrets though Alan found a fine looking adult Mediterranean Gull on our travels. With little else available to see we completed our stroll around the lake before moving on.

Small Tortoiseshell and Boeing Osprey

In the cool conditions I didn't expect to see many insects but a walk  around the more sheltered parts of the reserve added Small Tortoiseshell to the list and also a white butterfly that was almost certainly a Small White. Several bees were seen as well as a few Bee-flies but apart from these there was little else  to report.