A wintry Rufford

An all day meeting at Rufford Abbey CP offered some birding opportunities today; I got a lift with two ne'er do wells from the RSPB (Messrs Cornish and Coppleston), and we managed a little pre-meeting birding, scoring 5 Hawfinches in the trees around the main carpark - a tick for Mr Coppleston.

Rufford was looking quite spectacular in the snow, and a couple of us had a walk round at lunchtime - no Lesser Spots, and the woods were generally fairly quiet (although there seemed to be a hungry looking Robin every few yards). The lake was largely frozen, but a pair of Mandarins were present on one of the ice-free patches among the wildfowl, along with a group of c.10 Wigeon - not a species I've ever seen here before. No Goosander though.  

Wintry scenes at Rufford Abbey CP