John was already in Ron's hide when I arrived around 07:40 and for the first time a while it was raining quite heavily.
I had been asked to do WEBS counts and share the numbers here
39 Wigeon, 1 Pintail, 29 Teal, 48 Shoveler, 7 Mute Swan, 80 Coot, 2 Moorhen, 88 Greylag, 142 Canada Geese, 1 Pochard (over), 32 Gadwall, 13 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail, 13 Snipe, 1 Jack Snipe, 5 Mallard, 131 Lapwing, 35 Black-headed Gull, 1 Herring, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Green Sandpiper that only dropped in during the heaviest rain and left as it subsided.
We watched the Jack Snipe 'bob' before it vanished into the weeds and would guess it has been around since Jim Reid found it on the 6th.
As forecast, the rain quickly moved thru and then various handfuls of Fieldfare and Redwing began pinging all over the place.
Later today I got a message from Renton saying he heard a Marsh Tit between the hides at Lavell's and my reaction was "aaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh!" I need it and have questioned every record since 1983, because they are all either 'OU - observer unknown' or in my opinion, or 'OC - observer clueless'.
Anyway I can't believe Renton would get it wrong, he knows how rare Marsh Tit is this side of Berks, but it makes me want to add this pretty much extinct species, to my patch list....I doubt we'll ever hear one again ever.
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