I just had time for a couple of hours birding and, as the Pager had told me that there were three Bewick's Swans on Seventy-acres Lake I went to see if I could find them. Unfortunately they had moved on so I walked up to see if they had moved to Holyfield Lake.
As I started walking past the first field beyond the overflow car park a stunning male Sparrowhawk flew low across in front of me. Further along the road towards the Sailing Club I saw a photographer obviously trying to get shots of something over towards Holyfield Hall Farm. I caught up with him and he pointed out what I took to be a Common Buzzard flying above the hill. From that angle it was in silhouette and I thought it had gone down behind the hill but we then found it perched in a small tree. I got the 'scope onto it and immediately saw the dark shield on the lower breast and belly and the pale inner undertail with a broad, black sub-terminal bar which identified it as an adult Rough-legged Buzzard. The bird then took off and floated across the field, gradually gaining height and continued flying south.
I continued to the Grand Weir hide and scanned the lake but there was no sign of the Bewick's Swans but a drake and two redhead Goosander were swimming in one of the unfrozen patches of water. On the way back to the car a Red Fox saw me just as I saw it and we stayed looking at each other at a couple of hundred metres before it turned and trotted away up the field.
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