Kingfisher
I visited the Hamptons on 31 days between January and March. 51 species were reported. It was generally a quiet period on the pools with the usual Coots, Moorhens, Mallards and Mute Swan pair.
By the end of the period up to six pairs of Coots were in territory and two were nest building by March 19th. There are about the same number of Moorhen territories. The Mute Swans were also nest building. A pair of Gadwall were present from the turn of the year until February 20th.
The first Little Grebe returned to pool one around the beginning of March. A pair of Reed Buntings were in territory by March 12th although there were up to 6 birds present especially during the cold weather of January and February. Redwings and Fieldfares were in the shrubbery with a maximum of 40 Fieldfare and 15 Redwing on January 24th.
Waxwing
On this day a Cormorant flew over east. The resident Peregrine Falcon flew over the area on a couple of occasions. A few Bullfinches were in the shrubbery on a regular basis. The most exciting birds were a Kingfisher and a flock of Waxwings.
The Kingfisher was reported to me as fishing into the balancing pool on January 6th. 20 Waxwings flew over February 20th at 1045. This has been a very good year for this northern visitor and they have been seen all over Britain. The first hint of spring came with a Chiffchaff on March 12th. It was in the reeds along pool 4 and was keeping very low in the strong wind.