18th Jan - sunny am, isolated wintry showers pm

About 0430h this morning we had an hour of very strong gusty wind, peaking about 40 mph, fortunately no damage in these parts.  Sunny morning with showers developing during the afternoon, rain or hail. 7C - cooler in showers, light-fresh at time NW wind.

Willey; John Moore told me he saw a Barn Owl sitting on the roadside fence posts along the Moors lane a couple of nights ago.  Which is interesting as I found a Barn Owl pellet on our patio on Tuesday morning.

On the feed station this morning were the usual birds, including 2 Tree Sparrows, but all in low numbers, except 6 Magpies and 4 Grey Squirrels.  Ab out 50 Fieldfare and 10 Redwings were flying to the trees and pastures.

Stanford Reservoir; a look here from mid-afternoon. A Sparrowhawk flew over the dam.  At the feed station c40 Tree Sparrows and Coal Tit plus the usual Tits.  A Snipe flushed from the field and 2 Lesser Redpoll were feeding on weed seeds.  Two Barn Owls were hunting and two Goosander flew overhead.  A flock of c80 Lapwings were flying over the nearby arable fields.

A small fungus was fruiting, caps about 2 cm diameter.