Solo birding at Blashford

In an all too rare solo birding outing I visited Blashford Lakes near Ringwood to see what was going on with the winter visitors. The reserve has a decent range of landscapes so with a diligent couple of hours you could probably gather 30-40 species in one day. The large Pintail flock reported earlier in the week was nowhere to be seen on the lakes I visited but that still left Tufted, Pochard, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Coot, Mallard, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Buzzard, Blackheaded Gull and a fox chancing his arm along the shore. Over in the woodlands there were good sightings of Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Longtailed tit, Blue tit, Great tit, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird and a Goldcrest.