1st January - bright morning, light wind, cloud thickening and wind freshening S/SW, 6C

Happy New year to all.
A light frost for a change last night, but gone by late morning.

In the village parish area last year I notched up 73 species of bird, which is not bad, fortunately very little change on the previous year total.

First thing this morning c20 Fieldfare were in the fields to the east and rooks were very busy attending to their nests again. A Jay flew from the Long Spinney over the allotments gardens.

I checked my feed station area for a while and the usual visitors were present. Nuthatch, single Coal Tit, several Blue and Great Tits, a dozen House Sparrow, still only one Tree Sparrow, 6 Chaffinch, 2 Yellowhammers and a Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 splendid male Bullfinches feeding on blackberries, then a female Sparrowhawk zoomed through making everything head for cover.  At least 10 Redwing were in the thick hedge while several Jackdaws squabbled nearby.

A visit to the local lake was a little disappointing, a couple of Little Grebe were 'trilling', and only one of the Mute Swan family was present today. A skein of 32 Greylag geese flew over southward but did not land, then a single Cormorant and in the distance c50 lapwing were flying SW over the fields.

I made an afternoon trip to Draycote water to catch up with some interesting birds and gulls which have been there recently. The wind really began to pick up and mist and a little drizzle later made the light almost disappear for Gull watching.  With extra people sailing on the open water today the birds were well scattered and harder to find.  Still, I did find a Great Northern Diver just off shore that was very obliging.