Eccleston Mere Sunday 12th January

A quiet afternoon at the Mere and sadly no sign of any of the Goldeneye or Pochards which have been present over the last few weeks. The highlight of the afternoon was watching the Kingfishers which were showing well. One was perched in the hedge in the ditch near the sailing club building only 50m from the building. Later there were two Kingfishers chasing each other up and down the ditch near the wet wood and one of the two was perched alongside the stream which runs into the      Mere from the farmland between the wet wood and the golf course. Apart from three Herons, and a build up in numbers of Black Headed Gulls there was not a lot else about apart from the more common wildfowl at the Mere. There was also a Male  Great Spotted Woodpecker in the wet wood which came really close in response to me tapping on a tree immitating another woodpecker drumming. Most of the Canada Geese flock were all on the island sheltering from the weather.     2 Kingfishers, 30 + Mallard, 6 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Grey Heron, 30 + Canada Geese, 40+ Black Headed Gulls.