31 December 2016
The fog lifted eventually and we set out after lunch to walk up the river bank. As we crossed the field a crowd of seagulls were overhead mobbing a Buzzard which glided seemingly unconcerned until one gull got too close and it flipped over to show its talons. The seagulls backed off and it continued over towards Beeding Church.
I had a confusing few moments with some House Sparrows and a pair of Reed Buntings in winter plumage.
As we walked up the river bank it became clear that all of the hedges had been stripped of berries and so we had little expectation of seeing any Fieldfares or Redwings, but there were two or three of the former and possibly one of the latter, but not the big flocks that we have been seeing recently. There are fewer Blackbirds around too.
Two chaps were trying to catch a Greylag goose in the river that appeared to be injured. We have seen it a couple of times along one stretch of the river. Able to walk and swim, but clearly not to fly. We wished them luck and we did not see them or the goose on our return, so they may have been successful.
On our way back we looked down on the Castle meadows and saw two Roe Deer and saw (and heard) a Green Woodpecker, my last bird of the year.
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