18
Herons are sometimes seen fishing by the rivers edge,
tufted duck and pochard have appeared on the marsh and an
occasional flash of colour
denotes the passing of a
Kingfisher.
In winter, the river often
bursts its banks and as
the water recedes it leaves
much food of interest to
blackheaded gulls, rooks,
jackdaws, starlings finches
and sparrows. Fieldfares,
Redwings and Mistle thrushes
chatter in the hedges through-
out the short winter days and
at night the hunting cries
of tawny owls can be heard.
Dawn visits have often prod-
uced the ghostly form of a
barn owl which hunts in the
marsh and roosts in a Dutch
barn in the village.
The bird population in 1979
remained much the same as
that outlined above with
the addition of the corn
bunting which finally
nested. A grasshopper
warbler could be heard reel
ing, but its territory was
actually half a mile up
river in a plantation of
young fir trees