31 Dec - mostly cloudy, moderate SW, 9C

Shawell Lagoons; I had a look here this morning, not expecting many Gulls as the landfill is closed today.  A couple of Snipe, a Great crested Grebe, 47 Wigeon, 1 Teal, 4 Tufted Duck, Grey Heron and 4 Cormorant were present. Also, the highlight was a Kingfisher that flashed past in to the reed bed.  On the shore one of the many Carrion Crows was searching for food.  A small number of Gulls did drop in, including the Common Gull below.

Newton Lane; on the corner field there were 37 Pied Wagtails and a Mistle Thrush feeding.  In the alders by Triponium were c22 Goldfinch feeding.

Monks Kirby; after lunch I checked the Finch flock here, today there was ~ 60 Chaffinch, 2 Brambling and a few Goldfinch.  A single Raven flew over calling and a female Kestrel was near the sewage works on a post.  ~20 Redwing and ~10 Fieldfare were also feeding on the winter wheat field.  A single Great-spotted Woodpecker flew over.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

30th Dec - very mild 12C, fresh westerly ~15mph at times, mostly cloudy

Willey; a Raven flew over calling first thing. There was not too much at the feed station this morning, 2 Tree Sparrows were nice to see, a new visitor was a Moorhen.
A Kestrel was sitting on the telegraph wires along the Mere Lane.

Stanford reservoir; with the recent wetter and snowy weather the water level has been rising, now the current snow melt has taken right up so it is overflowing the outlet weir at volume.  I expect this will make a change to the birds we see, especially the duck.  Today, duck numbers seemed lower than recently, no Teal seen at all. Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon, Goldeneye and Goosander were all present.  10 Great-crested Grebes present, numbers slowly increasing now the water is back up.

Long-tailed Tits, Treecreeper and Goldcrest were  busy feeding, a single Jay flew in to the adjacent wood. A Grey Wagtail fed along the by-pass.  Only a single Fieldfare seen this afternoon.

29th Dec - light rain early, clearing, sunny, cloudy later pm, 5C, light SSW, slow thawing during the day

No obs today due to various events.  I did see a Kestrel sitting on wires next to the A5 at High Cross junction.

About 1645h I was told that there was a Barn Owl Flying besides the road just east of Walcote.

28th Dec - mostly sunny, light SSW, 2C, frost last night keeping the snow cover

Shawell Lagoons; After lunch I was just getting ready to go here when Carl called to say he had found an adult Glaucous Gull at the landfill nearby.  So, I hoped that it was now going to show at the Lagoons.  There were plenty of Gulls present to search through on each lagoon, and a continual exchange of the Gulls with the landfill site.  However, the Glaucous was not found during the afternoon here.
Other birds seen during this period included aRed Kite, Buzzard 2, Snipe 6 feeding, Pied and Grey Wagtsil, c100 Wigeon, 4 Teal, 1 Shoveler, a Little Grebe, 6 Cormorants, 2. Mute Swans, Starlings, Fieldfare and Redwing flew over.

Carl and I waited until about 1600h to see if the Glaucous Gull appeared, from a little after 1500h Gulls start to leave the landfill area and pass over the Lagoon on their way to roost at Draycote Water.  Here some stop for a drink and wash.  It is a continuous stream of Gulls and we were wondering about the number involved.  I estimated if there were 300 per minutes going by and it lasted for an  hour that would give at estimated total of 18000 Gulls.  It sounds a lot, but maybe an under estimate.  Carl believes he heard that an estimated 50000 may roost at Draycote Water, obviously not all from this area.  The stream of Gulls was an incredible sight as the sun was setting this evening.

27th Dec - snow last night ~12cm, continued light during morning, slowly thawing too, wind moderate NW, 2C, clearing pm - late sun

Willey;  An unexpected amount of snow, ground covered except on leeward hedge sides. Birds were busy at the feed station, I digiscoped a few.  Plenty of Blue and Great Tits, a Coal Tit, about 15 House Sparrows and 6 Tree Sparrows, ~6 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch and 4 Yellowhammers, female Great-spotted Woodpecker.  A party of 9 Long-tailed tits fed in the hedge, a little later a Sparrowhawk flew over quite high not bothering the birds feeding here.

I could not make it out of the village due to the road conditions after the snow, However Chris Hubbard popped to Stanford reservoir and sent this photo of the scenery there.

26th Dec - band of rain through last night, sunny am, clouding over pm, light SW, 6C

Bittesby; I walked over this area during the early afternoon to check the Finch flock on the bird food area.  ~70 Linnets, ~30 Chaffinches, 7 Yellowhammers were in the area.  a few Redwing and Fieldfare with 16 Starlings feeding on the winter wheat filed.  19 Goldfinch were feeding in the Teasel planted area.

Willey; a Kestrel was hunting over the Moors Lane fields, a pair of Bullfinch were in the Blackthorn at the bend, on the bottom garden feeder a good number of Blue and great Tits, a single Starling and Coal Tit, about 6 Chaffinch were feeding in the leaf litter below.

25th Dec - breezy SSW, sunny spell am, 10C

Merry Christmas to you all.

Willey; I checked the feed station this morning, a couple of Grey Squirrels were helping themselves.
Two Tree Sparrows, ~15 House Sparrows, a couple of Coal Tits, several Blue and Great Tits. A Nuthatch and Great-spotted Woodpecker, Magpies and Collard Dove were present too.  A single Yellowhammer and 2 Chaffinch.

A Redwing and Fieldfare were heard calling from some distance, a couple of Stock Dove flew over with Wood Pigeon.

24th Dec - cloudy, breezy SSW, 9C

Willey; on the stubble field to the west there were at least 15 Yellowhammers early morning.

Mere Lane Lake; not having been here for awhile I decide to have a short visit, there was not much around. Two adult Mute Swans and a juvenile, a couple of Coot, 3 Mallard and a single Wigeon drake.  A Tit flock was heard in the lane side bushes, unexpectedly A Woodcock flew up out of the undergrowth and settled about a 100m further on.

Monks Kirby;  After lunch I had a look here to see if the finches were still around.  A small flock of Chaffinch were present which contained a male (photos below) and female Brambling.  Also a few Greenfinch, Yellowhammers and Goldfinches

Towards the sewage works there was at 150 Redwing and 30 Fieldfare feeding on the winter wheat field. further on ~150 Wood Pigeon and 10 Stock Doves were feeding

23rd Dec - cloudy, fog early, slowly clearing, damp, light SW, 8C

Willey; a check of the feed station produced 4 Tree Sparrows and 2 Yellowhammers plus all the regulars, including at least 10 GreatTits, 4+Blue Tits, with a hen Pheasant present today. A Sparrowhawk flew in and made all dive for cover before it moved off hunting.  c25 Redwing flew over and settled in the back field tree tops.

Cotesbach Landfill; after lunch I arrived here to find the site with masses of Gulls, but by the time I put my boots on and got ready they had practically all moved off - annoyingly they do this sometimes for no apparent reason.  A Kestrel flew over and a couple of Buzzards. It became obvious that many Gulls had landed in the adjacent sand quarry area, so I moved to a new location to view them.  Carl was present too and he spotted several colour ringed Gulls and a Yellow-legged Gull.  However, it was long before the Gulls rose again and set off towards the landfill again, they really seemed to behaving differently today. So, we decided to move to the Shawell Lagoons.

Shawell Lagoons; there were only a handful of Gulls present, but waited to see if others would drop in.  An immature Peregrine flew in and tried to catch a feral pigeon, it faled and tried a few more arttempts at anything it could.  Then aflock of ~120 Lapwings flew over and looked to land, but only 1 did.  On the Lagoons were a Great-crested and Little Grebe with only a few Tufted Ducks today.

22nd Dec - mostly cloudy, misty at times, very light SW, 10C

Stanford Reservoir; a look here this afternoon,  nearby shooting and bird scarers on the crops were causing the ducks to be a little unsettled today and moving round a bit.
A party of Long-tailed Tits also had a Willow Tit with them.  At the feed station at least 15 Tree Sparrows were present, a Coal Tit was there too.  A few Redwing and Fieldfare were along the bushes.
A Little Egret was feeding at the inlet pool, 2 Goosanders flew in overhead.

21st Dec Winter Equinox - cloudy, misty and damp most of the day, 11C

Monks Kirby; checking here to see if the Finches had re-grouped in their recent area and numbers.  At first it all seemed very quite, then I started to find Finches, a good number of Chaffinch, ~25 Goldfinch, 4 Brambling, 6 Greenfinch and 3 Siskin were in one area of trees, on the far side of the stubble field ~25 Linnets too. In the same general area were ~75 Starlings and the same number of Redwing, a few Fieldfare, Yellowhammer, 2 Mistle Thrush.  So an area to keep an eye on over the coming days.

20th Dec - mostly cloudy, some short sunny spells and also fog, 10C

Willey; this morning to the west several Skylark were in the stubble, and a Great-spotted Woodpecker flew in to the long spinney. On the roadside pasture field ~100 Redwing, a few Fieldfares, ~50 Starlings and a Song Thrush were feeding. A Great Tit sang a Little from Ash trees nearby.

Shawell Lagoons; I had a look here after lunch, hoping for for a scarce Gull. Plenty of Gulls, but nothing scarce today.  It was nice to see a Water Rail in the distant reed bed corner and 3 Snipe a little nearer, despite the poor light and distance I managed some record photos.

A single Little Grebe and Shoveler female, 2 Moorhens and 4 Tufted Duck were present too.

19th Dec - mostly cloudy, very light SW, 3C slowly rising during the day to 5C

Stanford Reservoir; a look here during the afternoon, a bit more activity than my last visit.  At least 8 Goldeneye were present plus Pochard, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal and other Common Duck. A Few Fieldfare were around, plus Bullfinch and Long-tailed Tits.  A Sparrowhawk shot along the waterside trees on the hunt. A single Little Grebe was on the inlet pool with several Moorhen.

18th Dec - Foggy, never clearing much, 3C,

Theddingworth; another miserable day weather wise, but enlightened by checking out the birds coming to the feeders at my brothers.  Best of all a Marsh Tit was a regular visitor, along with Coal, Blue and Great Tits.  Two Great-spotted Woodpeckers, Greenfinch and Chaffinch too, and the other usual residents.

17th Dec - cloudy, light cool rain, light NW, 4C

Stanford Reservoir; rather miserable wet morning visit, still an amount of the Reservoir still frozen, but plenty of open water for the ducks.  There was good numbers of Gadwall, Teal, Tufted and Mallard, 8 Shoveler and 1 Female Goldeneye.  Very few passerines were active in the wet weather.  A Little Grebe was on the inlet pool.

16th Dec - light NW, cloudy, light rain, drizzle at times, 3C

Misterton; a look here first thing, the lake was mostly frozen over, so the single Mute Swan was near the out flow while Canada geese were walking on the ice.  The usual passerines were about, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Coal Tit too.  Most interestingly the Rooks were attending to their nests in the tree tops, you could see them moving the twigs making them more secure.

Willey; I checked the feed station just before lunch, 3 Collard Doves were present, the usual Tits and Nuthatch plus a single Yellowhammer, several House Sparrows and 2 Tree Sparrows.

Cotesbach Landfill; Carl had called over lunch to say he had spotted the juv Iceland Gull again, one that shows characters of being a Kumlein's Gull (a Thayers-Iceland Gull hybrid).  I missed it last week, so was hoping to see it.  After watching for quite  while I found it feeding on the rubbish area among other Gulls.  The weather was dull and drizzling but I manged some record digiscoped photos.

15th Dec - very icy after rain and frost last night, sunny am, cloudier pm, 4C, light- fresh NW

Bittesby; after lunch I walked over Bittesby fields especially to see the bird food crop area.  On the way I flushed a Snipe from the grass beside the track.  At the bird food crop area there were ~30 Chaffinch, ~50 Linnet, 14 Yellowhammer and 3 Reed Buntings.  On the winter wheat fields about 30 Fieldfare were feeding among Rook, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Lesser-Black Backed, Herring and Common Gulls.

14th Dec - sunny am, cloudy pm, 4C, light W

Willey; John M from the village told me that yesterday he flushed aWoodcock from the old railway hedge next to the pixel paddock, also earlier in the week 6 Snipe were along the brook.

13th Dec - 4C, cloudy, some showers, light - sometimes fresher Westerly

A slow thaw during last night, then during the day, the rain speeding it up, so little snow by end of day, just any stubborn areas of ice.

No obs today, however I did notice that all the fallen apples I put under the feeders have gone without trace.

12th Dec - ~-6C last night, sunny am, clouding over pm, 0C, light westerly at times

Shawell Lagoons; Carl called late morning to say he had found a Iceland Gull, or possibly a Kumlien’s Gull, but he did not get any opportunity to see the tail flight pattern, unfortunately I was not free at the time.  After lunch I headed off to the Lagoons, these were mostly frozen over but had some small areas of free water.  The free water was attractive to the Gulls and various ducks.  Difficult to estimate, but may 3000 Gulls were on the ice and water.  I did not find the Iceland/Kumlein’s Gull.  I managed to read a yellow colour ring, Y:F12 on near adult Herring Gull, Carl thinks this was ringed in Gloucestershire, we shall see.

There was c75 Wigeon and 130 Teal present on the Lagoons, many other waters being totally frozen over.  A Fox was looking for morsels on the central bank.

Willey; on the only Holly Tree with berries in the village next to the Main Street 20+ Redwing were feasting.

11th Dec - frosty night -2C, cloudy am, clearing sunny pm, 1C, cold light northerly, snow ground cover

Willey; the feed station was moderately busy throughout the day, the fallen apples I put down seemed to be going down well.  More Tree Sparrows today, up to 6 seen together, a single male Yellowhammer was present too with all the the regulars.

The late sun and snow made a nice photo of the church, but with a clear sky they are forecasting a severe frost tonight.

Monks Kirby;  I had a look at the stubble fields and leaf litter area where the large flock of Finches have been seen recently, unfortunately as the fields and area is totally covered in snow they must have moved on, locally or not, I hope they will return once the snow has gone.  A few Fieldfare, Goldfinch and a Mistle thrush were around the old Church trees, a couple of Raven flew off over Newham Paddox entrance field.

10th Dec - Snow

Woke up to about 6-8 cm Snow and continued light snow through the day, cold with light-mod NE wind.  Birds remained hidden until about lunchtime when some ventured out for food on the feeders.

9th Dec Glaucous Gull - frost last night -4C, sunny periods, cold, 2C, very light westerly.

Willey; I checked the feed station area this morning expecting more birds to be present due to the cold weather.  In fact, there were less birds present, a Nuthatch, a single Tree Sparrow, two Greenfinch, a Pheasant, several House Sparrow, Blue and Great Tits, two Mistle Thrush were feeding on the pasture, only a few Redwing and Fieldfare were around. It seems they have just about eaten all the Holly berries within the last few days.

Cotesbach Landfill; I was just getting ready to leave for here when Carl sent a text that he had just found a Juv Glaucous Gull feeding there, so I headed off.  Fortunately it was still present and I managed some flight views and brief ground views before it disappeare, not to be seen again.  Later news indicated one went in to roost at Draycote Reservoir which is where we know many Gulls head for after feeding here.

Other Gulls include both Caspian and Yellow- legged. A cautionary tip is to be aware that occasionally a Herring Gull can have yellow legs, as one did today, just yellow legs don’t make it a Yellow-legged Gull.

Shawell Lagoons; we thought it may have moved next door to the Lagoons so moved here after awhile, it was not found here either.  There was 134 Wigeon, a Grey Heron and a few other birds but as the light faded quickly most Gulls headed off towards Draycote without stopping here.

8th Dec - steady westerly, 2C, feels like -4C, sunny periods

No obs today.

7th Dec - Cloudy, Westerly mod, 10C

No obs today - conference

6th Dec - High cloud, light SW, 10C

Shawell Lagoons; a look here before heading off to the airport.  Plenty of Gulls having a break here from feeding at the nearby landfill.  No scarce Gulls found but a very smart adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Unfortunately it flew off before I could get a record photo.  Very little else was present, this has been very typical lately, I can only put it down to the generally benign weather we keep having, even when from the north.

5th Dec - High cloud, light SW, 9C

Monks Kirby; I managed a short visit to the fields and stubble area near Newnham Paddox entrance.  A reasonable number of Chaffinch were still present, but quite mobile and difficult to search through. On the field a number of Fieldfare, Redwing, about 30each of Starling and Jackdaw.  Eight Magpies were searching through the leaf litter under the hedge and a Jay flew passed.  A couple of Buzzards were calling in the next field.

4th Dec - cloudy, dull, light NW, 9 C, feeling damp

No obs today.

In fact this week is going to be a poor week for obs as meetings and a conference will take a huge chunk of time.  But you never know what may be glimpsed.

3rd Dec - cloudy mostly, 9C, light NW

Willey; at the feed station this morning a couple of Great-spotted Woodpeckers, a single Tree Sparrow, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, 8 Magpies and other regulars.

Stanford reservoir;  a Little Egret was flying passed the inlet pool where a Green Sandpiper was feeding on the weir.  15 Goosander flew in - 6 males the rest females/redheads.  Plenty of other duck species present too, including Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Goldeneye.  A party of Long-tailed tits with Blue tits and |Goldcrests were feeding in the waterside trees and bushes.  A couple of Goldfinch were feeding on the weeds, about 1530h c40 Linnet flew in to their usual roost site.

A couple of Fungi were spotted today, generally this autumn Fungi have been scarce, probably due to the general dry weather.

2nd Dec - cloudy dull am, light drizzle and mist pm, 6C, light W

Monks Kirby; this morning I visited the area near Newnham Paddox to see what was on the large stubble field. About 80 Chaffinch, 5 Linnet, 15 Goldfinch, ~30 Fieldfare, a few Redwing and a Mistle Thrush.  A couple of Greenfinch on the hedge, from where a Green Woodpecker flew from.  Two Raven settled in a nearby Tree and spent some time cleaning their bills on the boughs before flying off.

Cotesbach Landfill; the weather was pretty grim in the afternoon but I visited this site in the hope of finding an interesting Gull.  A good number usual Gulls were very busy feeding on the rubbish and Carl had already read a number of colour rings during his morning session here.  Still no ‘white-winged’ Gulls but Carl did point out a 3w Caspian Gull that was seen well.

1st Dec - sunny spells, frosty, light NW, 4C

A busy day with little time for obs.

I did flush a spSnipe from long grass in a Sheep grazing field.  At the feed station numbers seemed to be down, they must have found food else where.  Pheasant seem to be daily now, the cock showing off very well and calling.  Redwings are feasting on Holly berries a lot now, every tree has good numbers feeding on them and a Blackbird has started on the cotoneaster berries in the garden while the ground is mostly frozen.
I picked a load of fallen apples up from my nephews this afternoon, these I will scatter around my feeding area and see what they tempt in.