During a couple of outings on Boxing Day, Cooks Lane was alive with birds, the best being a loose flock of around 20 – 30 Siskins hanging off the alders. The wet woodland along the stream is obviously perfect for them, but I don’t recall seeing so many together before.
In the paddocks, there were several Redwings and Fieldfares, and in the game cover beside the junction of Cooks Lane and the Test Valley Way there was a good lot of Chaffinches - perhaps several dozen, but impossible to tell for sure in amongst the maize. No sign of any Bramblings, but the scene looks good for them.
Also along Cooks Lane, one or more Nuthatches, a Grey Wagtail on the rooftops, a small party of Long-tailed Tits and a few Goldcrests. Seven Mute Swans were present among the Canada Geese, Mallards and assorted oddities on the small reservoir viewable towards Timsbury.
Up Coombe Lane it was much quieter, but one or two Marsh Tits showed in the gardens in front of the row of houses.
