Dungeness - 8 Nov

A dash down south for some dancing was also a good time to pop into RSPB Dungeness where I added Great White Egret and Black-Necked Grebe to my year list and caught the sunshine on this crazy bit of land which juts into the Channel... 

Sunday sunshine showed the reserve's terrain.

Grebe wasn't easy to phone-scope

When the Egret came out to digest it's dinner it was a sitting duck for photography!

 

Not much more came out to play that weekend but these Barnacle Geese looked fantastic in the morning sun.

Autumn draws in

The surpise of Autumn is that it has taken so long to get started and only in the last week or so has teh temprature got down to seasonal norms.  Stormy weather in October has blown in some extraordinary birds mostly onto the island groups North and South of the mainland.  Storms provided me with one new bird for the patch list - a Ring Ouzel over two days in late October.  Glory be I got a photo or two and a video

The latter being caught with less than impeccable camera positioningby our Trail Cam. It brought the patch list up to 92 species.

More impressive and winterish have been flocks of redwing over the house especially in the stormy weather of in early October - Southerlies blew them through torrential rains.  Fewer Fieldfares so far this winter and scary any photo opportunities for either.

A brief sighting in a packed hide at Blacktoft on 23 September got me the life tick for Spotted Crake which had alluded me for 5 years in Dorset.  A handsome bird I thought and it stood very conveniently next to a juv. Water Rail so there was no mistaking the interloper.

Whooper Swan are always a welcome sight and three on the quarry on Slains Lane near Mission was a treat.




Back at base in Misterton the weather has been mild and through finches, buntings and tits are about they are not there in numbers.  The first sighting of a Goldcrest in the garden spruce was late October, about the same time I saw one feasting on flies around the pine trees in the sanctuary.

A party of Brent Geese spied from the train one morning as we passed West out of Benfleet in Essex helped my bird list for the year to 191 - hoping November will capture the remaining 9 needed for my year of part-time birding.

And August ends...

It started with a decision to go dancing in Huddersfield a week last Friday en route from my office in Sheffield.  I visited a site, Broomhead Reservoir near my old haunt of Deepcar in South Yorkshire, where I used to walk Lucy the Yorkshire Terrier and where Two Barred Crossbills - Scandanavian interlopers were to be seen in numbers. None were forthcoming.  But the dancing was smashing.

The idea that with nearly three quarters of the year gone I might be able to hit 200 bird species is buzzing round my head - difficult given a) how poor I am at new bird ID, b) Autumn migration might not be as productive as Spring one and c) how work is interfering with everything at the moment.

But a useful start would be to mop up some local birds!

The following Sunday I set off for RSPB Blacktoft Sands with a mind to see the Montagu's Harrier which had been roosting there.  Sunday night the Singleton hide was full and though we waited for until 21:15 nothing was forthcoming - there were plenty of Marsh harriers and a Hobby and a Merlin in the twilight - it was though a magical time of day.

Monday required more a repetition with serious intent - one of the reasons I hate twitches is the serious prospect of wasted time and the bitter disappointment of high hopes dashed.  I got into work early and left early and made Broomhead reservoir to see 1m, 2f and four or five juv Two Barred Crossbills all in the same tree for 40 minutes or so.  That's the kind of twitch I like.


 
 
A word here about the awful directions available on most webpages for bird sightings: not just awful but sometimes misleading. It was hard to fathom - of course it might be obfuscation or diversionary (see below about reluctance to share).  So why then don't bird groups use Goggle Maps?  It's very simple to create a map for the Twitch and just add pins if multiple sights are involved over time?  You might add a pin for good parking places - for the less IT enabled a print out may suffice, but for those with Smart phones a portable map which shows you where you are in relation to the site would seem to be a good tool.

I went from there back to Blacktoft, where a very distant Harrier obliged with a short appearance, flying down the Trent from the Humber and plonking itself in short order in the reedbeds at about 20:15.

2 more species on my year list, one on my life list, and the whimsical target seems a little less impossible.

Saturday was a day for a big push: A morning visit to Gringley Carr yielded very little - maybe it was the time of day and I suppose a Mistle Thrush is a good sign but it seemed like an empty landscape.

Newington Flash was - briefly as flood waters it turned out were rising - chock full of waders. Little Egret down to Little Stint and most sizes in-between - Curlew Sandpiper were a nice surprise. In an hour there my list went up by three.

Next to RSPB Old Moor - a 48 species site on Saturday afternoon - though there was no sign of the Night Heron despite a long stay til 19:45 in an empty hide. The Spoonbill was a plus for my list and I really enjoyed the great views from the elevated Wath Ings hide as birds large and small came in groups.  A Hobby through a flock of Lapwing was impressive, a LBB Gull downing something small and fluffy caught with only feet showing as it disappeared head first was a stark reminder what it's like out there.  Close views of Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and a large flock of roosting Little Egret (17) made the evening well worthwhile.

Hide etiquette is something I'd like to dwell on after noisy experiences at both RSPB venues - there are no signs suggesting people are quiet.  And so this weekend alone I heard:-

• the chatters blather on far too loudly, 
• Three dishevelled elderly men loudly proclaiming their knowledge, offering scope views and generally flirting with the same young women (no wonder so few come bird watching), 
• children sticking their heads out of the windows, 
• Canon users who rest their big lenses on hide window ledges with a resulting resonant, amplified noise is like a machine gun and 
• most memorably an intent watcher chomped on peanut brittle (needless to say he couldn't eat it quickly or quietly).  

A few more signs on hide etiquette would be helpful.  Most amusing of all are those men (and it exclusively is men in my experience)  who proclaim a running narrative on what they are seeing - including revealing their mis-identfications as they happen.

At Blacktoft on Sunday night - there were 4 or 5 Gargeney and plenty of roosting harriers.  The Montagu's was seen - no idea from the after-the-fact blog as to where or when.  The information on this bird has been patchy.  But the absence of daily or real time reports on this site is regrettable

There's nothing on Twitter from the RSPB or a local bird group about Blacktoft. Nor as far as I can tell is there a bird club which reports daily on the site.  This puts Blacktoft Sands at the back of the pack locally when it comes to getting people who are serious about birds or promoting it's countless introductory birding or wildlife activities.  Missing it's core visitors and it's new customers is sad and unnecessary: it's an excellent reserve.  The whole RSPB Community message board system is heavily handed though probably very secure: I think it's hard to find too.  I'd love to know the balance of traffic between RSPB staff, RSPB members, public visitors and a few - often very good - photographers.  But there's been some talk recently of how open some bird watching organisations are to spreading information: I was told at one site - not to put sightings "on the pager" (that's easy because I don't have one).  There have been concerns voiced that not much gets reported in some parts of some counties or when it is, it is contained within clubs.  My own experience of bird clubs has been hideous and I hope that social media will mean where these are secret cabals and/or centres of self-aggrandisement will wither away.  Twitter is immediate and democratic and free.  

My plan for Monday was a sea watch or two (first time in ten years) on the mid-Lincolnshire coast and then move either south or north to an RSPB reserve or two.  The sea watch was a wash-out, as the wind dropped bird numbers dwindled.  Also I realised that Sea Watching is hard on your own: I'd forgotten more than I'd reckoned on.  I needed a group from whom I could learn but there was no one else there amongst the motorhomes and fishermen on Huttoft Bank.  In a group, I recall the identification, where uncertain, was discussed and dissected - hints and tips shared - and my learning was accelerated.  But birdwatchers are a rum lot so I don't know when I'll get that experience. Other sites seemed less appalling as the sun was beating down so in the end I headed back to Blacktoft where some of the Gargeney from the night were still on show....

Year list now 181 (53rd in the Birdtrack ranking)

Breeding Birds & August begins

July didn't prove much unusual for the patch list: breeding species were of most interest.

Breeding Birds

Two pairs of Whitethroats and two of Bullfinch ensured young birds enlived my patch walk. In addtion, Robin, Lesser Whitethroat, Chaffinch, Kestrel (2 young), Great Tit, Robin, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Greenfinches, Magpie and Collared Dove all bred.  It was clearly a very good year for Blackbirds - with half a dozen or more youngsters in the garden in early August. Young House Sparrows and Goldfinches were difficult to place.  A juvenile Green Woodpecker appeared on the canal side regularly .

In recent years Swifts and House Martins have been rarely seen in our part of the village but there has been a bonanza of both alongside substantial numbers of Swallows.

On the canal a pair of Mute Swans are rearing three cygnets.  Moorhen families on the canal and elsewhere have suffered a lot of chick mortality, but enough survive.

 

New birds

New bird to the patch on the morning of 4 August was Greenshank over at 7am.

Also that morning two Kingfishers strayed off the canal bank - where they are rarely seen - into one of the rapidly drying ponds. Possibly training a youngster fletting glimpses were on offer until the adult settled on a post.

Other wildlife:

Dragonflies have been my new thing recently - three or four species present.

 

 

Butterflies surveys so far yeild more disppointing results than previous years.

 

 

 

 

Amphibians were the surprise with Smooth and possibly Great Crested newts

And, most surprisingly of all -  the call of a Midwife Toad can be heard here

Dead July - not so far!

Two new additions to the patch list:

Common Tern fishing in the canal

Curlew over at 6am this morning

Smashing!

May Bonanza

Having two Bank Holidays in May makes for extra birdwatching time plus the unexpected addition of time at RSPB Dungeness in gaps between dancing at Camber Sands meant my bird watching activities have seldom been so frequent.

A stunning male Hen Harrier was a lucky encounter amongst the many Marsh Harriers at RSPB Blacktoft, at least half a dozen Hobbies hunting over RSPB Dungeness, my rapid introduction to the subtleties of Scaup distinguishing features there too, and a Corn Bunting and three Quail calling on the local patch were star birds, Best of all were a flock of Dotterel on Gringley Carr (almost on May 10, predicted by folklore) after a three year absence.

Early May Bank Holiday weekend provided for a trip to RSPB Bempton Cliffs provided a boost to my bird list - confiding Gannets, Fulmar, auks and Kittiwakes provided photo-ops too. Distant views of Puffins might be improved later in the year. There was a Corn Bunting here too - sadly most people are here for the seabirds.

Later at Blacktoft my bird list was substantially improved with Black Tailed Godwits, Turnstone and Little Gull.

A dancing trip to Sussex also allowed for some Southern approaches - a diversion to meet two friends at Two Tree Island near Leigh on Sea, Essex was great.  There's a formidable bird list for this former rubbish tip. There Nightingale, Cetti's Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat are all heard within 5 minutes walk of the car and a Peregrine over was a bonus.

Later that weekend seven Hobbies in the air at once was a major part of the bonanza at RSPB Dungeness mid month - along with two pairs of Scaup and an Osprey.  It's a wonderful reserve, with a spooky alien feel to the shingle-banked landscape - very helpful and informed staff too.

 

With my bird list increasing and the opportunities of visiting local RSPB reserves pushed it further, Old Moor RSPB treated me to close views of a bird I've seen an awful lot of this month, the Little Gull.



This endlessly busy (and seemingly endless hungry) species is a joy to watch in it's tern-like flight.  A bird closer to adulthood (with black head) appeared at Blacktoft Sands later in the month. The other black headed gull at Old Moor is the Mediterranean Gull - a cert there in the summer and despite the number of Black-Headed Gulls there the Med Gulls stick out like sore/black? thumbs.

A word about RSPB Old Moor too - its a great reserve but one of the things they do very well is using social media to keep it all together: their Twitter account signals the release of a blog post of daily sightings but can also be used during the day for real time reporting of events.  Their Facebook account sees it all come together and provides promotional space for the activities, a community feel and an opportunity for photographers to put up their pictures.  Many RSPB reserves have the same active social media presence, but not all do and I think the one's that don't are missing a trick - yes a full complement of social media activity can take up valuable time.  But over time I think Twitter will usurp the pager services for many people and is of wider local reach than most people know - that will be how they will draw in the serious birdwatchers and new members and their families. So I'd say they should all start with Twitter and see how it goes.  But Twitter demands something new every other day or so...but I guess nature always has something new to offer...

May ended with some disappointments: Harwell Wood a mixed plantation was very quiet when I went, a few birds but not what I'd hoped for.  Daneshill "nature reserve" (as featured in the Sunday Times) was an avian desert of Canada Geese and Tufted Duck.  So we went to the Idle Valley Nature Reserve just down the road.  Sadly IVNR was disappointing too - the walk road Bellmoor lake ends (or starts) with hundreds of yards of unremittingly lifeless farmed willow obscuring the view of the sky and holding very few birds.  The site is over 3 miles long and though local has always been impenetrable to me.  The Lound Bird Club has a very long bird list and some dedicated members their daily sightings page reports a rich and diverse birdwatching environment.  But the complex has no centre - it is a maze of pathways, lakes, access roads and forbidden places - parking is limited - but what you see is pot luck sometimes.  The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust volunteers trying to raise money at Bellmoor were consigned to a tent in the car park selling teas and cakes for this very good cause, whilst the kitchens in the North Nottinghamshire College Rural Learning Centre, next door, remained gleaming and empty.  Not much community spirit there!

Heading west, Wharncliff Crags and the forest below provided the sounds if not teh views of redstarts and wood warbler that I sought, plenty of Tree Pipits on the crags and high above the valley a Raven made a magnifcent sight heading towards the Moors. In Langsett later I made the wrong choice - despite the people there was much action in the woods and valley - I took to the Moors - my reward was Red Grouse, great views and a biting wind, but this interloping Cuckoo annoying the Meadow Pipits was a bonus as was a lone Crossbill for my list.



And back closer to home this lonesome Corn Bunting tried his hardest to attract a mate - so much so he didn't notice my car parking up.  Ordinarily such photos of such a rarity would be risky and ill-advised, but the farmer has ploughed up his favourite field and he's no longer anywhere to be seen. :-(

Garden Bird list

A surprising addition to the garden bird list on Thursday - three Quail calling in fields audible on my patch walk.

Click here to hear the call.

April lapse

The last entry I wrote was on 17 March much has happened.

The weather at the end of March and into April was unseasonably cold and for far too long the strong east wind played havoc.  Winter thrushes kicked around in big flocks - especially Redwing - I encountered a flock of about 300 which made a sound like 3000 in Laughton Woods, Lincs.  The bittern at the end of the garden put in more appearances and once was caught on camera.



A Barn Owl put in a brief appearance for a couple of nights - which was edifying, but the number of Short Eared Owls dropped from 5 to 3 to 2 and then they were gone by the end of April. Of the last pair - this was the most obliging.....

In the garden we were for the first time blessed with frequent visits from Lesser Redpoll and Siskin - both new to the garden list since I started in 2010.

 

Greenficnh numbers were low but climbed in April.  Goldfinches came and went.  The two sparrow species were a pretty constant joy.

It was cold and wintery and miserable! Nonetheless, the season continued with Kestrels in the former "owl" box. The warblers and hurindines trickled in and the winter ducks on the Idle floods stuck around well into April.  A tawny owl called manically during the day but night time revelaed our end of the village was positively replete with them. Raptors were thin on the ground except at Blacktoft where Marsh Harriers filled the air with a sky dance or two .

I bulked up my bird list with visits to St James Park in London, Blacktoft Sands RSPB, Loch Leven RSPB.

March - becalmed

It's been a bit boring on the birding front largely because I've been ill and away from base.  Most annoying to dip on the Dungeness Penduline Tit last weekend but weather and health were against me.

Here in North Nottinghamshire movement of birds is evident - the winter thrushes have disappeared in the last fortnight and the singing passerines are making the cold but sunny more feel more springlike (even in they not!).

In the garden all the evidence is of pairing up of resident birds.  Visitor numbers at the bird feeders and tables are very variable but Greenfinch numbers are up.  This female blackcap was on seed when I first saw it but soon gobbled up apple when offered.



Out at Gringley Carr, the Short Eared Owls continue to show well and boldly approach cars and stationary humans alike as they scan the ditch sides.  There's less grass for them to patrol - that's been ploughed attracting masses of Black-Headed Gulls in the process. Lapwing numbers continue to grow too.

Also at Gringley the number of Buzzards is on the rise - though the count of 6 yesterday may have been increased by the newly ploughed fields.




Blackcap aside maybe a Winter visitor itself, there's not much sign of new migrants.  But the month ahead will change that.

In more optimistic news, a Barn Owl has been seen locally - the first for three years.  Hopefully it will find a mate.

The other day I was travelling north of Sheffield and pulled in to take in the dark stillness of the Moors near Upper Midhopestones.  It was pitch black.  As I sat in the car - the sound of planes taking off from Manchester Airport the occasional background interruption - I heard the haunting call of the Curlew and the chatter of Red Grouse, unknown wader and duck calls emphasised the avian traffic and a Tawny Owl.  Sitting and listening is under-rated.  But all this nocturnal traffic reminds me of a significnat Sheffield development.

Sheffield University and the Sheffield Bird Study Group have been promoting the camera on the website here as a place to watch a pair of Peregrines hopefully breeding.  Its a great venture also serviced by a Twitter account @peregrines2013.

As I sit at my desk at a building in Sheffield City Centre desk I survey the skies to catch sight of my favourite falcon.  But now the hunting sorties are marked by one of the webcam's observers tweeting that the birds have left the proto nest site.  The other night when fog enveloped the city and the skies were dark the twitter stream remarked the birds had gone hunting, like so many peregrines in cities they have probably learned how to make the most of the city lights illuminating their prey from below. As I walked home the thought of the Peregrines above, going about there business was a comfort (this species has made a formidable comeback) and an excitement.  Great use of technology all round are bring these birds to everyone in Sheffield.  We wait to see how the nest progresses.




This is a screen shot.

Mid February lull

A weekend in mid February feels to me like the end of something.  For a start the Waxwings are moving so randomly the idea of sighting any before they return  across the see seems very unlikely.  Backed up too by the massing of flocks of Fieldfare and the virtual absence of Redwing.  This must be countered with the reports of Curlew heading north in flocks coming from the south coast, lapwing flocks on the farmland and on those sunny mornings when the biting cold wind drops there is lots of birdsong.

The changing faces at the bird feeders in the garden include more Greenfinches and, with some deep joy as I've been wishing them here all winter, Lesser Redpolls.

The raptors have been less visible except on one blustery day when a Merlin sat in the lee of the wind on the road side sign for Pollybell Farms.  My car drew level and it didn't budge an inch! At night the hooting from our burgeoning Tawny Owl population died down as territories were claimed.  And back at Gringley Carr the Short Eared Owls are back - four at our best count.  They will bring much need photo-opportunities next month. Still no record of Barn Owl from Gringley or Misterton Carr

My best day this month was with my 6 year old nephew who likes to count the birds in his garden at home and here in Misterton we can offer more for him to enjoy.

25 species was the challenge for the day - 33 were delivered, only 7 outdoors the rest from various windows in the house.  It also enabled me to get a few shots in sunshine of our more confiding visitors.

Pleasing to see the House Sparrows now very comfortably using the seed feeders - a maximum count of 8 included 3 males - there maybe more deep in the hedge.  Its a fantastically dense hedge now with ivy doubling the cover - also getting Wren, Dunnock and occasionally Song Thrush around that area.

At Gringley Carr the flooding is restricted to the west bank of the idle and there were good reports of wildfowl on there on days I couldn't make it.  But the drains are empty aside from moorhens and - lucky for me a kingfisher silhouetted against faded evening light. At Wroot a few Bewicks mixed with 60+ Whooper Swans on the set aside too.




My nephew was thrilled to see Short Eared Owls - even more so when one tussled with a Kestrel.  Its so good that he's interested now - he may well be a bird watching companion for a little while.

In techie news, the BTO Birdtrack app is now available for iPhone and is a smashing bit of kit for recording sightings on the hoof, and seeing what's about locally from other sightings - either by bird species or by site.  I'm sure its going to see their database entires swell.  I just need to get into the habit of using it!

Mid January update - Snow

After the excitement of Bittern the week before last, I was reconciled to a quiet weekend's bird watching and even more so because with bad weather in prospect. I decided to stick to my local patch - which is most our garden, the field behind and short stretch of canal bank.

In particular with large numbers of goldfinch on some maturing alder trees - I went in search of Siskin (elusive on my garden list) and/or Redpoll sp. (sighted once - last year on nijer seed feeder). I drew a blank on both. No even mildly exotic finches despite the plethora of feeding stations, biting cold and dozens of finches on site.  Of course, we imagine the finches we see this week are the same ones that we saw a week or even a month ago.  That's unlikely - so we wait for Redpolls or Siskins to drift our way.

But there have been lots of yellowhammers - some of which are happy enough to approach the feeding station - some stay deep in the garden feasting on corn we put out. The biggest flock I've seen numbered around 30 - half the size of a count in a mixed flock in South Yorkshire recently. They sit as happily at the top of a 60ft Walnut tree as they do a hedge top - they will be with us now through until May/June.

Having said that this weekend has not been without its surprises, not least going round a corner and seeing this female Goosander on the Chesterfield Canal.  These sawbills usually found on the River Trent or on large bodies of water - but the canal is full of fish and reasonably clear of ice.  Later I saw three birds (2f + m) flying over.  The creamy white male Goosander is a beautiful bird at this time of year and I will try to get a picture soon.




I have, since I was a small boy, seen Snipe in the field behind the house, but never one in the garden, but in a quiet corner, under a birch tree, where the snow doesn't settle the grass is damp and presumably provides rich pickings (something to do with the compost bins close by?)  Anyway, this most nervous of birds obliged for a minute or so before being bullied back to the field by a Blackbird!




The flocks of Fieldfare are still the predominant species in the fields and hedgerows. They have finished off the Rowan and Hawthorn berries, gobbled up apples (more of that in a mo) and are now roaming eating all sorts.  They are normally quite timid but will do anything for a meal so this handsome chap posed below about 10 yards from me in a bush next to our patio.



But unlike previous years and this Autumn, there have been very few Redwings associated with the Fieldfares this winter - I've seen one in four days of bird watching. Blackbirds are dominating the feeding stations and are chivvying us up early in the morning (90 minutes or so before sunrise) with demands for food.  Typically there will be 2-20 in the garden - they seem to consume virtually anything.

Our apples feeding station (nails in a plank!) provides for all the needs of these thrushes...




They seem to spend more time guarding their bounty than eating it though.  No sign this year of Mistle Thrush, but a Song Thrush does lurk in the hedgerow now and then, not yet brave enough for the food hall.

Thick snow fell on Sunday 20th and a walk on 21st yielded more surprises.  Snipe on gardens and on any bit of marsh ground not covered in snow fly with a rustic cackle and jinking flight as though evolution had pre-figured the defence against air to air missiles.  But along with them a Woodcock came up out of the trees near the canal bank with its strange "sitting up" flying posture and straight as a die flight path.

Amongst the trees - with branches heavy with snow - there was little bird life.  A few finch flocks scour the hedges for food.  Above it the Fieldfares and Blackbirds, Stock Doves and Pigeons flit about - never seeming to settle. Except here - down by a field unprotected by the noisy gas gun bird scarers, I found about 800 pigeons settled on wires, fence posts, hedge tops and nestling in the snowy crop.....

 

There's no wonder then that a chaotic swarm of these birds in the air was a sign of something they all found disturbing.  And ten minutes later as I stood taking photos a Peregrine flew around me.  With my binoculars I could see the bird checking me out.  It did a complete circle and went on its way over a tall hedge.  As I walked towards and around the hedge it had gone from view but there were magpies in the field beyond scraping over a bird's corpse: not 30 yards from where I had been stood buggering about with an arty snow scene.  The corpse was the Peregrine kill - a Stock Dove I think - and later as I walked past the scene - 7 magpies were feeding. A grim reminder that hunger is all around for animals in winter and yet from one comes food for 8 including the magnificent confident Falcon.  The good news is that its the second time I've seen one within half a mile of the house and they bred locally this year (I saw an adult training a youngster to dive in the late summer skies last year).  The bad news is that I become transfixed in the presence of these amazing birds so once more photography gives way to memory (one of the reasons for this blog).

Sad to leave the field today - excited that there will be more to discover next time.  But it won't include this Stock Dove.

Scotland and January at home

A week in Scotland after New Year saw a set of extrordinary lucky sightings including:

Loch Leven (Kinross): Whooper Swans

At Loch of Kinnordy: Greylag and Pink Footed Geese, a vast Brambling/Chaffinch flock of some 250 birds,



Also male Smew and Red Squirrels

Travelling up the A9: Black Grouse flushed by Golden Eagle hassled by Raven

Ardnamurchan Penisula tour: White Tailed Eagle, another Golden Eagle hassled by some more Ravens, Red Breasted Merganser, Otters and Seals



Lochwinnoch: A Dipper

Then back home and back to work, a birdless week of commuting until:

Saturday:

Gringley Carr: 10 Corn Bunting on the wire - with 150 odd Linnets and other finches & a Buzzard

Gringley Road Patch: not much to write home about until I stumbled on a Bittern 

Sunday:

Early to Clumber Park where I saw 5 Hawfinch, 2 Marsh Tit and plenty of birds at close quarters thanks to the feeding stations where regular visitors put out bird seed. Dipped on 12 Waxwing though :(




Monday:
 

Home: Brambling to add to the garden list, plus dozens and dozens of birds as the snowfell including a Song Thrush (much missed).




2013 Birdlist now at 78 species!

Patch list (76 species) can be found by clicking the tab at the top of the page and all my bird photos for 2013 are found here