by Colin Wilson
2nd January 2005
A total of 25 people attended this walk from the Discovery Centre Thatcham on a cold and windy day. The attendees came from ROC and the Theale Area Bird Conservation Group with a few guests. Three people were new ROC members and this was their first field trip.
The first place to visit was Lower Farm GP, the reserve and a windy walk along the canal produced Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, Redwing and Fieldfare. Arriving at Lower Farm hide the group found shelter from the wind and Green Sandpiper, Golden Plover - a Lower Farm speciality and Ruddy Duck amongst the usual wildfowl.
The afternoon part of the trip was aimed for Greenham Common but the leader changed the plans with the member’s agreement so after, a warm up and refreshment break, a visit was made to Bowdown Wood. This was a more comfortable environment and a Marsh Tit was found as well as Nuthatch, Great spotted woodpecker and Buzzard and a very nice tit flock.
On windy days bird numbers are generally lower than normal so the total of 42 species was a nice start to a 2005 year list.
Our thanks go to John Andrews for leading this walk and producing the notes from which this record has been made.