The final month of the year is generally the least exciting time of year for birds. Short days and the relatively mild Decembers in recent years tend not to engender any obvious bird migration. And consequently low birdwatcher activity aggravates a poor bird showing. December 2003 was probably one of the worst on record on the park. Had it not been for the feeder programme, very few birds of note would have been recorded.
There were substantial amounts of rainfall on several dates and this did help to replace some of the summer losses in the ponds on the park. The middle lagoon in particular was showing a marked increase in water presence by the end of the month. The weather was generally from a westerly quarter, meaning it was typically mild and wet with many dull and dank days. There were also short periods of fog and mist. Winds were generally light until the night of Saturday 20 December when a north-west gale blew up bringing cold arctic air to the area. Accompanying the strong northerly were some heavy snow showers over the night of 21–22 December. These left about 5-6cm of snow on the park the following morning - the first real taste of winter.
Wildfowl are often the staple diet of birdwatchers in mid-winter. There was the usual collection of species on the ponds on the park, but there were few surprises in either species composition or numbers. The most significant event was the gathering of teal on the new lagoons, where they peaked with 50 birds on 21 December - part of a park day total of 58 birds.
The abundant growth of fat-hen, which has produced a bumper crop of seeds, on the islands in the lagoon has provided the teal with a welcome winter food supply. Mallard have also benefited with a peak count of 89 birds being logged on the same day. By contrast, the number of gadwall fell from ten to four and shoveler fell from eleven to two during the month. Diving ducks were also in short supply and the only species of note was a single female goldeneye. Waders were also scarce; a roost of 38 redshank in the first week of the month quickly dissipated and there were only odd birds seen thereafter. The peak count of snipe was just three birds.
Two kingfishers were frequent visitors in the first two weeks of the month but became less reliable towards the Christmas period. The feeder stations provided a constant supply of food for a good variety of passerines. Chief prize amongst these was the tree sparrow. Two birds present at the end of November had increased to four by 2 December and then six by 12 December with seven or eight found together on 21 December. This attractive species is one of those farmland birds to have shown some of the greatest declines in numbers over the last thirty years - up to 90 per cent in some areas. This has resulted in it being red-listed in the National Birds of Conservation concern 2002-2007.
Establishing a wintering flock on the park is an exciting development. It is always difficult to establish the number of birds using the feeders, but simultaneous counts of four, three and two robins at the three stations give an idea of just how many birds are using the sites. Tits, as usual, featured prominently with up to 20 blue and 10 great tits recorded. There have been very few sightings of long-tailed tits around the feeders this year, although a flock of about 10-16 birds has been regular in the western park. A single coal tit joined them on odd days and three goldcrests usually accompanied the flock.
Reed buntings are most obvious at the Pasture Road feeders where there have been up to seven birds on some occasions; just how many individuals use the station is impossible to tell. Another unassuming but omni-present species on the floor below the feeders is the sombre coloured dunnock. Dressed in tones of grey and russet, the hedge sparrow or cuddie as they were colloquially known is a typical garden resident in Britain. But on the continent and further east it is a bird of extensive forests, generally avoiding human habitation.
The alders have had a small flock of about 20-30 goldfinch and up to four lesser redpoll have been occasional, but it was 17 December before the first small flock of eight siskins was seen. Up to four splendid bullfinch have been a regular sight around the Pasture Road end of the park. There, they have been feeding in ivy covered trees and also on nettle seeds, which are favourite of this big-billed finch.
One or two rock pipits were occasional on the northern ponds or the adjacent foreshore. And a single first-winter grey wagtail made sporadic appearances in the same areas to 13 December at least. Seven song thrushes were still present in the first week along with 50 Blackbirds, but the number of both species fell rapidly as the berry supply on the car park hedgerow was exhausted. Very few winter thrushes were grounded but a few flocks of fieldfare and redwing passed over the park in the third week. The cetti’s warbler heard and seen on 23 November was never seen or heard of again in spite of regular searching; where has it moved to for the rest of the winter?
A hard weather movement of skylarks saw a single flock of 50 birds pass south-west low over the park on the morning of 22 December following the overnight snowfall. And a single waxwing was calling around the car park but could not be relocated.
Dusk usually saw a gathering of twenty or so magpies in the southern park, where they often tussled with the roosting sparrowhawks before they all settled into their winter overnight accommodation.