31 Jan - Cloudy, mod SE, grey, misty and light rain on-off all day, 7C

No time for obs today, but I did notice a Jay fly over the road in to the Long Spinney with an acorn in its bill, and a Song Thrush was singing west of the village and later a Buzzard flew over the village in a rare short dry spell.

30th Jan - cloudy, grey all day, light SW, 6C

News came through that 4 'Tundra' Bean Geese had been associating with Greylag and Canada Geese at Seeswood Pool next to Arbury Hall, about 12 miles away.  To have these Geese in the Midlands is pretty unusual, so after lunch I was able to go off and have a look.  Sure enough the 4 Tundra's were feeding with the other Geese, some distance off across a field, after a while a helicopter came over nearby and they all flew up. Fortunately some of the other Geese and the 4 Bean Geese returned, even closer, and continued to feed.

29th Jan - Frost last night, broken cloud giving steady rain from mid-day, 7C

Because of the wet weather forecast I visited Stanford reservoir this morning, on arrival I bumped in to Mike Alibone who was scanning the water from the inlet and had spotted 3 Pintail some distance off, I did find them later - a drake and female.  Just past the inlet 15 Little Egrets were roosting in the Willows.  The number of Goosander has increased markedly over the last week, I counted 57, no doubt I missed some. The Long-tailed Duck was off the main reed bed, then flew in to the bay, where there was a 100+ Pochard.

Along the by-pass path 2 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Bullfinch, Blue, Great TIts, a Song thrush and 3 Redwing were busy feeding. Only a single Fieldfare was seen in the Hawthorn bushes. A Great-potted Woodpecker was drumming in the adjacent woodland.

28th Jan - sunny spells, light occasional shower late afternoon, light-mod SW, 6C

I was passing Lutteworth country park in the morning so popped in for a look before it became too busy.  There was at least 15 Goldfinch in the thicket making a lot of noise, and several Greenfinch too, with song and fight display. A Song Thrush was singing here with at least 4 feeding in the grassy areas.  About 40 Starlings were feeding on the pasture, along with ~20 each of Fieldfare and Redwing.

During the afternoon I visited Draycote water to see if I could connect with the Red-necked Grebe.  I headed of to its preferred area and soon found it feeding close to the shore.

 At Draycote a lot of Little Grebe over winter, this one had just caught a small fish.  In fact Black-headed Gull was after the food every time they surfaced with a catch, making them dive immediately.  Interesting to compare this Little grebe with the Red-necked Grebe.

A 'redhead' Smew was still present and this was feeding distantly before flying much closer to the shore.

I spotted 2 male Scaup feeding way out on the water, later I found them close to shore resting, with their heads tucked under, so not a great photo, most unco-operative!

Quite a few Goosander were around, some resting on the shore, a Raven flew passed, calling as it went.  in the bushes a flock of Long-tailed Tits were busy searching for food.    I stayed a little longer as the Gulls were coming on to roost, another local birder at this site found an adult Glaucous Gull, possibly the one I found last weekend here.  Showers had been threatening and finally passed directly over, a mixture of rain and hail, but allowing a nice rainbow to form - I headed off before it worsened.

27th Jan- frosty and grey morning, warming during the day, then light rain late pm. 4C

Again only one Tree Sparrow seen at the feed station.  As the day warmed a few Redwing and Fieldfare flew over the village. Late afternoon a couple of Goldcrest were in the church Yew tree.  A Mistle Thrush was in the Holly tree today, still loads of berries.

26th Jan - frost last night, cloudy, cold S wind all day

A cold wind blew all day from Mainland central Europe making the day feel particularly cold.

At 0830h a Raven flew over NE calling, heading for the fields near the Moors lane.  Later on a single Buzzard flew over the village.

A busy day so no time for obs.

25th Jan - Little frost, sunny, but mist forming from lunch time give a dull pm,6C

No time for direct obs today.

However, this afternoon I did see 2 Foxes together in the sheep field near the old railway, they were picking at some morsels in the grass, later the wandered off in to the nearby wood.

24th Jan - frost last night, mist#haze clearing to sunny day/high cloud, light breeze, 7C

I popped to Stanford res this morning and was surprised to find it was 90% frozen over, the birds were pushed in to 4 small ice free areas.  Having said that, clearly many birds have moved off to other waters, I'm sure they will be back very soon, but some were putting up with it.

13 Little Egret were perched up in the water side trees, with a few Grey Heron to keep them company.

About 40 Goosanders, 35 Shoveler, 25 Teal, 15 Goldeneye plus Pochard, Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Mallards were present on the free water. The mixed flock of Canada and Greylag Geese were around too. A single Little Grebe ventured out of the reeds for a while.  A Kingfisher flew long the side and settled above the free water hoping for a catch.  36 Lapwing were sitting on the ice roosting.

A number of the usual Gulls were in, one a Common Gull had a white colour ring, I could read 3 of the letters, but not the fourth - NN0?  I will try to see if it is possible to find the ringing area.

A Muntjac was feeding in the neighbouring field, it spotted me and just stayed looking in my direction, they are getting brave.

After lunch I decided to see if any gulls were at the Shawell lagoons, again these were mostly frozen over, but this does not matter for the Gulls as they fed at the nearby landfill.  There was about 300 Gulls present, mostly Black-headed and Common Gulls, the larger Gulls were few.  Unfortunately, no colour rings were found and no rarer Gulls either.

But, a good number of Teal (125), Wigron (99) and Lapwings (c400) were present.  With the Lapwings there were 3 Golden Plover, this was good as they tend not to visit the lagoons too often but stay on the fields with the Lapwing.

23rd Jan - fog/mist at times, cloudy, very light breeze, brief glimpse of sun, 5C

I was passing Frolesworth manor lake this morning so had a quick look.  The lake was still mostly frozen, but a few Tufted Duck were present and 40 Black-headed Gulls sitting on the ice.  On the pastures and game cover area several Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Chaffinch were feeding. A couple of Goldfinch and 4 Linnets flew over.  A small number of Redwing and Blackbirds were feeding along the hedgerow borders.

Even though we have had this colder period. The number of Tree Sparrows, Yellowhammers and Chaffinch have not increased at my feed station.  Presumably as the ground has not been snow covered or frozen for a long period the birds can still find plenty of food in the countryside.  A Great-spotted Woodpecker came and fed on the peanuts, then flew off in to the very top of a Popular tree calling loudly.

I also had to travel along the A5 north, in doing so I spotted Kestrels in two locations. Two Buzzards were in a tree where they nested last year, quite close to the road, one was standing on the nest the other in the tree.  So, I quest they are checking out this nest site already, maybe if the weather stays warmer than average they will breed early.

22nd Jan - frost last night -4C, High cloud. Today 4C, little breeze/still, brighter late afternoon

I visited Draycote water this afternoon, this is a fairy large reservoir near Rugby, a Red-necked grebe has been reported there for a few days.  Unfortunately, I could not find it today, nor anyone else I asked, so maybe it has moved on.  Plenty of Great-crested and Little Grebes were present, maybe it was hiding among these.

I did find a 'redhead' Smew among the usual duck, a little later a flock of Wigeon flew in.  In the bushes 2 Bullfinches were calling, in fact the male was almost in song, a small flock of Long-tailed Tits were feeding, and a Goldfinch was feeding on the weeds.  Later, close to sunset, 6 Linnet flew around and settled in the tree tops ready for roost.

Draycote has a large Gull roost which starts to build during the afternoon continuing to dusk. I scanned the gathering Gulls and found an adult Glaucous Gull resting on the water, initially with its head tucked under, a little later it was swimming about a little giving better views.  The photos show a tiny, tiny portion of the gathering Gulls for roosting.

21st Jan - frosty, foggy start, slowly clearing, cloudy, 4C, light NE

Several Redwings flew out of the spinney trees tops, heading vaguely north in to the fog, to the west of the village.

Carl text to say he had both Iceland and Glaucous Gull juvs at Shawell, so I set off to have a look.  The Iceland Gull was still present, a smart juvenile, sitting by the pools before flying off toward such the landfill area.  Will try again this afternoon for a longer period.

This afternoon was very quite at Shawell, many Gulls had moved off and others were disappearing quickly. So I went o have a look at the Cotesbach pools close by.  Here there was 35 Pied Wagtails with a few Meadow Pipits feeding in the rough and around the pools.  About 20 Redwing and some Song Thrush were also present and a cock Pheasant strutted by. A Raven flew passed calling.

20th Jan - good frost last night, sunny all day, light breeze, 5C

A several Meadow Pipits were flying around the fields this morning to the west.

A look at the feed station late morning showed a good number of House Sparrow, 2 Tree Sparrows, several Great and Blue Tits, 2 Coal Tits, a Nuthatch, 4 Yellowhammers, 2 Chaffinch, plus Magpies, Jackdaws, Collared Doves and some other common species.

19th Jan - cloudy, mist forming, light drizzle, still, 7C

Another cloudy misty dull day while we sit under a 'high' moving very slowly.

No obs.

Just had the ringing information on the Black-headed Gull whose ring I read in Hyde Park on the 11th.  It was ringed at the Hosehill reserve in West Berkshire, some 65 Km to the east, on the 7th June 2015 as a nestling, so just a little more than 2.5 years old now.  Not too far away, but all data helps the big picture.

18th Jan - Cloudy am, mist developing and some light drizzle, very light breeze, 5C

A green Woodpecker was 'yaffling' a lot through the day mostly to the east of the village.

A trip to Stanford reservoir this afternoon, in the rapidly forming mist.  Still, a nice walk and anything may be present.  Little Egrets numbered 11 and 2 Grey Herons were feeding around the waters edge.  This year the Goosander and Shoveler numbers have been really good all winter, today with at least 25 and 32 each respectively. Also, Teal are still present, presumable the low water is to their liking.  Best of all The Long-tailed Duck was seen again, busy feeding , so down more than up on the surface.

At the feed station 25+ Tree Sparrows were noisily feeding, with accompanying Blue and Great Tits. In the bushes were several each of Redwing and Fieldfare and a few Blackbirds.  Four Bullfinches were working the boundary hedgerow, like this super looking male.  In nearly 50 species were seen before the mist made it too murky to see.

17th Jan - high cloud, light breeze SW, 4C

Well, at least dry and brighter than the last two days.  Things generally quite still.

Had a look at the local lake, the Mute Swan family still present, 10+ Long-tailed Tits, 4 Bullfinches,  several Chaffinch and 4 Goldfinch were present.  Otherwise just a few of the other common species, including a Jay in the nearby trees.

16th Jan - cloud, drizzle practically all day, 6C

Mid morning a female Sparrowhawk sat on the garden feeder looking rather damp.

There was a flock of about 500 Firldfares near South Kilworth this afternoon, also a flock of about 200 near Theddingworth, the recent cold spell may be likely cause of these larger flocks.

15th Jan - Rain all morning until about 1400h, then cloudy, light NW, mild 8C

A bit of a wash out today, the rain steady making obs difficult during the morning a couple of Mistle Thrush were around the central village Holly trees which surprisingly are still loaded with berries.

I visited Brandon marsh for the afternoon, everything was dripping wet and not too much was stirring.  I viewed one of the Barn Owl boxes through the Bins, no Owl sitting in the entrance but a Wasp/bee species had occupied it and were very busy coming and going - in January!

On the pools there were quite a lot of Teal, I counted over 75, also a good number of Shoveler. Both taking advantage of the low water level, well down on a normal winter.

Two Goosanders were present and six Pochard, Coot and Moorhen were busy feeding.  A Grey Heron was standing, drying out, lakeside.

Unusually, only six Lapwings were present on the East marsh island, may the recent cold weather made them move away, or they may just have been local on the fields feeding.

The woodland areas were fairly quite, just the usual common birds, a couple of Jays were heard and one seen carrying an acorn, no doubt from is store.  A Buzzard was hunting the meadow area and sitting on the gate posts.

14th Jan - Little frost last night, cloudy morning, clearing by early pm, sunny periods, 4C, light breeze SW

Well, the snow did not last long, all melted away by the morning.

I visited Stanford reservoir this afternoon, the water is dropping quicker now and should be lowering week on week as they reduce the level, so this should open up lots of shore line for birds to use.

Well, the snow did not last long, all melted away by the morning.

There were 11 Little Egrets and several Grey Heron around the edge.  On the water there was 21 Shoveler, 14 Gossander, 18 Goldeneye, plus a good number of Wigeon, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Mallard.  Only 15 Great crested grebe were present, perhaps some have moved off dude to the cold weather, two Little Grebe are still present.  At least one Kingfisher darted over the water of number of occasions.

                                    

Few passerines were seen today, two Treecreepers were together and are probably a pair, the usual Tits were seen with Goldcrests.  A couple of Bullfinch were in the hawthorns and late on c50 Linnets had gathered in a tree top preparing to go to roost in the thicket below them.

13th Jan - light snow falling, mod- gusty NW, 4C. Cleared to sun during the morning, still blowy and cool

I had a look around my feed station late morning, plenty of activity.

About 20 Jackdaws and two Magpies were there initially.  Great, Blue (8+, 6+) and three Coal Tits.  Two each of Nuthatch, Yellowhammer and Chaffinch.  Several House Sparrows and one Tree Sparrow.  A Great-spotted Woodpecker was feeding on the peanuts.  A flock of ~20 Fieldfare flew over in to the field and a couple of Starling over.  One or more Bullfinch made their way along the thick lane hedge.

12th Jan - cloudy start, light rain mid-morning then through day, light NW, 4C

No obs today unfortunately.

11 Jan - mod - blusterly NW, 8C, feeling cooler, sunny intervals pm

I had a meeting in London today, so I was able to get of the underground one side of Hyde Park and walk through it to my meeting, giving me a chance to see a few 'inner city' birds.  It was less windy here and felt much warmer too.

As expected Ring-necked Parakeets were flying around noisily, a pair was inspecting a hole, may be for nesting very soon.

By the Serpentine a small flock of Black-headed Gulls stood on the ground, one had a white colour ring, 28P1, I have reported it, so let's hope I get the ringing details back.  One Common Gull sat on the lake post with BHGs.  Larger Gulls seemed to be absent at this time.

On the lake wildfowl numbers seemed low with only a few Tufted Duck, Pochard and three Shovelers. Plenty of Canada and Greylag Geese though and several Egyptian Geese.  A single Great crested Grebe was seen too. Several Egyptian geese were around the park and lakes.

Only a few passerines were seen, Blue, Great and a single Coal Tit, a small party of Long-tailed Tits were in the bushes near the bridge, Blackbirds and a single Starling singing atop a tree, otherwise fairly quite.  During my walk I spotted 28 species of bird.

Two guys were ringing Coot by the Serpentine, they told me this was a fairly new adventure.  However, they had spotted both the regular Little Owl and a singing Treecreeper towards the Kensington Gardens end this morning.  So, if in London with time to waste, visit a royal park, who knows what you could see.

10th Jan - cloudy am, clearing to give sunny intervals pm, light SW, 9C

First thing this morning I could here one, maybe two, Marsh Tits calling in the Long Spinney to the west of the village.  This is a place I am now most likely to hear/see them these days.

During an errand in Hinckley my attention was was drawn by a noisy Black-headed Gull above the town that was harassing a Sparrowhawk lazily going over.

Getting back to the village there were nine Magpies squabbling on the lane as I drove along it.

During the afternoon I made a short visit to the pools at Cotesbach to see if the sandpiper was still present - it was not.  Another Sparrowhawk flew over (I saw one as I drove there, that's three today). The Kestrel was hunting again, and at least two Buzzard were in the area, one eating while sitting in a tree.  A Coal Tit was calling from a tree top and ~20 Redwing were in the bushes.  On the open area between the pools 18 Pied Wagtail and a single  Meadow Pipit were feeding.

On the sheep pasture to the east of the village about 50 Fieldfare were feeding during the late afternoon.

9th Jan - cloudy, light rain am, showers pm, 8C, mod-fresh SW

A poor weather day so not too much observed.

 I was able to take a look at the shallow pools near Cotesbach, a Kestrel was hunting between showers over the rough ground, a Green Sandpiper was feeding at the main pool.

8th Jan - Cloudy, a bit misty, brighter later, still and mild again 10C

First thing a flock of Long-tailed Tits with Goldcrests were in the hedge and Long Spinney to the east of the village.  About 1000h 12 Redwings flew over SW and a female Sparrowhawk shot from the church yard over the paddock to the feed station, however it did not make a catch and carried on.

Being mild a number of birds were having a go at singing, Song Thrush, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker calling and Robin to name a few.

This afternoon I visited the north arm of Rutland Water, here a number of interesting birds have been seen recently.  A Green-wing Teal was present but had just been flushed by Fishermen off the near-by bank. Howver, with searching the distant area it flew to I was able to find it again among other Teal and duck.  There were plenty of the usual duck species out on the water, Great-crested and Little Grebe.  Then two Black-necked Grebe were spotted feeding, then another two Grebes, one of these was a Slavonian Grebe with an other Black-necked Grebe.  A group of eight Little Grebe had been feeding in this area too.

After watching this area I decided to have a quick look at Eyebrook reservoir as I passed it going home.  Eight Pintail were among the usual duck species, several Dunlin were on the exposed mud and three Snipe were at the waters edge.  At the inflow end there was a large mixed flock of Lapwing and Golden Plover, it was great listening to their constant contact calls.  After some while they were spooked and  they took flight (maybe a Peregrine flew past them), an impressive sight filling the sky, after a while they landed again.

 Lapwing

Lapwing

 Golden Plover

Very close by is an old oak tree that usually has a Little Owl in attendance, today was no exception, through the mist you can just about make it out.

Little Owl

7th Jan - Foggy morning slowly partially clearing bu mid-afternoon, then misty. Still, 10C

A quick look in Lutterworth country park this morning produced a flock of ~15 Goldfinch and 6+Greenfinch.  A few Redwing and Fieldfare were also around, several Blackbirds and a couple of Song Thrush fed on the grass areas, six Moorhen were on the small pool.

I visited Shawell lagoons during the afternoon, duirng the next few weeks we should get both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls turning up here.  Alas, today very few Gulls were present during my visit. A flock of Lapwings were checking out the site before landing, about 250, eventually 150 landed, as they got lower a wader was spotted among them, a Dunlin, this did not land but flew off.

A Grey and Pied Wagtail were feeding on the shore edge, and a single Moorhen was in the reeds.  Very little else was around and the mist was forming again so I headed off.

6th Jan - Frost last night, thawing slowing during the days, cloudy, light rain afternoon, 5C

A Green Woodpecker called this morning from the wood nearby.

5th Jan - hard frost last night, sunny, light wind.

My meeting finished about 1400h which gave me another chance to drop into Saul, as I past it by a couple of miles - where the Cattle Egrets have been regularly reported.  Looking over the horse paddocks one Egret was seen a little distantly, eventually good views were had to confirm it was a Cattle Egret.  After 10 minutes something spooked it and it flew off away from me, still good to have seen one.  Then homeward bound.

4th Jan - cloudy, 8C, light SW

Today I made my way to Cardiff for a planned meeting tomorrow so it was an ideal opportunity to drop in at a few places on the way.  Cutting across country I stopped at Stow on the Wold to see the Blue rock Thrush that was still present hoping for some further photos.  The bird was found, sitting on top of a chimney, it did not show very well and with dull cloudy weather photography was not good.

So, after a short while I headed off towards Saul and Armingham that are small villages on the Severn meander, here several Cattle Egret have been regular for the winter.  None were located and I decided to head off to the Severn bend bank where a Richards Pipit has been for several days.

I walked out to the bank along a restricted by-road, there were plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare around the fields, plus other usual residents.  Once on the bank I headed off in the last known Pipit location looking and scanning as I went.  On the Severn mud banks a few Shelduck were feeding.  Two other birders had been looking and had said they nhad just seen the Pipit fly over and head to an adjacent field, searching focused on this area.  Searching for an hour did not locate it so we broadened the search area back to where it had flown from.  It was nice to see two Stonechat (m&f) and plenty of Meadow Pipits here.  One of the birders found it feeding along the tall grass on the edge of the Severn bank, popping in to view then disappearing again.  So, although seen the views were limited, it finally disappeared in long grass.

My next plan was to go to the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetland trust reserve but more time had been spent here than planned.  The local birders told me where Cattle Egret went to roost so I decided to have a look back at the first site then go to the roost site.  Again  none seen at the first site, so I hoped for the roost site.

In place at the alleged roost site, a large lake with tree covered islands, I waited patiently, a Nuthatch and Great-spotted Woodpecker were heard calling in the woodland and on the lake two each of Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler were messing about, a Kingfisher was busy feeding along the edge, a pair of Mistle Thrush were on the adjacent parkland field.   Several Cormorant had taken up their roost sites in the tall trees and a Little Egret flew in and roosted on a low branch.  Alas, no other egrets came in this evening so I headed off to the car to continue to Cardiff.

3rd Jan - high cloud, light SW, 5C

First thing a Raven flew southward to the west of the village, a usual area to see them this time of year.

A morning look in Lutterworth country park produced a flock of 12 Goldfinch and at least eight Greenfinch.  A small number of Redwing were feeding on the open grass with a couple of Fieldfare.  There were several Blackbirds, some showing territorial behaviour, many were feeding in the leaf litter.   Magpies were around still and five Moorhen on the pool.

2nd Jan - Frost last night -3C. Sunny, light breeze NW, 4C

I popped up to Hinckley this morning to see a Waxwing that had been reported feeding in road side trees.  It had flown off across the housing estate, so I decided to walk along a likely area that had lots of bushes, fortunately I caught sight of someone waving me at the original site so I walk back to find the Waxwing had returned.  I had good views of it, but I was the wrong side of the tree for decent photos.  Also feeding in the trees were a few Redwing and Fieldfare.

I made my first of the year visit to Stanford reservoir this afternoon, the sun was bright and nearly still.

There were about 50 Linnets on the game cover crop, with a few Chaffinch and about 30 Redwings feeding on the ground next to them.  On the water there were plenty of duck, at least 30 Shoveler were busy feeding in their circular manner.  The 'redhead' Smew was seen and then quickly lost, it manages to become invisible very quickly.  Over 30 Goosanders were present, not sure why bu they seem to prefer the shallow inlet area.
On the adjacent field six Little Egret and two grey Heron were resting while 3 more were at the inlet, making my highest count here for quite a while.  In all I saw 50 bird species during my walk.

A Fox , Muntjac and Rabbit were also seen.

1st Jan 2017 - rain until mid-Afternoon, light NW, 4C

Happy New Year to all readers.  Hope you have a great year spotting wildlife wherever you are, near or far.

Today's weather was pretty awful, feeling cold and pretty wet making getting out rather unpleasant.  When the rain had nearly stopped at 1430h birds ventured out and were quickly feeding at the feed station, trying to make feed up before it became dark.

Eight+ Great and 5+ Blue Tits, a Long-tailed and a Coal Tit, c30 House and two Tree Sparrows, Jackdaw, Collared Doves, a single Starling came to the fat balls, two Chaffinch and a Yellowhammer were all busy feeding.