31st Dec - mostly cloudy, light SW, 9C

Well we end the year still on a  mild note, little sun and low rainfall - what will the new year bring?

Cotesbach Landfill; mid morning I decided to have a look here (then maybe the lagoons - but I didn't make there), there were thousands of Gulls all over the sandpit and landfill area, mostly sitting around, quite tightly bunched so careful searching was needed. After about half an hour I search I spotted a Iceland Gull - second winter probably. I had to look twice as I was expecting to see the 2W Glaucous, so this Iceland Gull is definitely new to the area.  Although fairly distant it showed well through the scope and I managed record photos before it flew off back to the landfill area out of sight.

Stanford reservoir; after lunch a visit here to fill the feeders and a look.  Fairly quiet due to the weather we've had/got but still a Great Egret and 2 Little Egrets were good to see, 2 drake Red-crested Pochard in the bay and 27 Shoveler, 6 Teal and 20+ Goldeneye.  Along the by-pass path a couple of Long-tailed Tit flocks (c20), single Fieldfare and a Treecreeper.

30th Dec - mostly cloudy, very light WSW, 11C

Today I completed my first winter bird survey which is being organised by the BTO/Natural England.  Essentially you have to count and record all birds seen when walking a defined 2Km transect.  My allocated transect is near to Bitteswell which is a area of mixed farmland and some of the village area.

Of course such surveys don't usually produce the scarce and rare birds, but you do get to know the area well, which can, sometimes, turn-up surprises - although not today.  A Raven was nice to see, a good number of Redwings feeding on pasture, with a few Fieldfare and Starlings.  About 10 Goldfinch were feeding too.  on one small area of old pasture there was quite a few Gulls, maybe 150, included Black-headed, Common, Herring Great-black backed.  Quite a few Magpies, and lots of Jackdaw.  A couple of Buzzards were on the ground feeding, probably looking for worms.

29th Dec - high cloud,brighter pm, light SW, 13C

Cotesbach Landfill; Carl called mid-morning to say there was a very large number of Gulls present, this was potentially good news as last night an adult Glaucous Gull was reported in the Draycote water roost, so maybe around here today. It really is quite a challenge searching through so many Gulls and over a considerable area, with some areas out of view, meaning you may miss out.  Eventually Carl did spot the adult Glaucous on the pool in front of us (it must have sneaked on to the pool unseen), it was washing and we watched it for a few minutes before it flew up and landed on the far side spoil heap, after another short while it flew off to the landfill area.  I only managed some (poor) record shots when it was facing us on the far side.

The adult Glaucous was not seen again during the following watching, but highly likely it was out of view feeding on the landfill.  [it was reported in the Draycote water roost tonight]

Gulls start streaming back to Draycote early afternoon until near sunset, so if weather conditions are good its worth staying to see what flies over. And today proved the point as Carl again picked out a 2W Glaucous Gull as we were about to pack up to leave.

Two Glaucous Gulls were a good haul, plus Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls among the throne.

Two Red Kite were present, with Shoveler, Teal, Mallard and a Little Grebe on the pools.

28th Dec - cloudy, light SW, 12C

Willey; only time today to check the feed station.  Visiting were plenty of Blue and Great Tits, a single Coal Tit and 2 Nuthatch.  Two Tree Sparrow, several House Sparrows, a Yellowhammer and 2 Chaffinch.  A male Great-spotted Woodpecker came to feed and a Green Woodpecker called nearby. A few Redwing and Fieldfare flew over between the fields.

27th Dec - cloudy, misty, dull, light SW, 8C

Willey; a Green Woodpecker was calling this morning to the west of the village, 2 flocks (c40) of Redwing flew over north to the fields and a couple of Mistle Thrush were on the Holly tree berries.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here this morning, plenty of Gulls again, most distant though. an adult Great black backed was colour ringed, 3J1B.  A single Red Kite, 11 Shoveler and a Little Grebe on the pools.

Stanford reservoir; it seemed very quite here with few passerines around and little on the water at the inlet end.  Walking along the by-pass path I noticed an Owl flew passed quite high, it looked very pale and initially I thought a Barn Owl. Chris had just joined me and he had another view thinking it was a Short eared Owl.  Chris went down the path to get another look, the Owl doubled back and I could see it was a Short eared Owl.  We have had a couple on the fallow fields the other side of the reservoir, this afternoon shooting was occurring there so I assume it had been disturbed and was taking shelter in the trees, it was last seen flying back to the fallow field.

The usual winter ducks, including 26 Goldeneye and also 4 Red-crested Pochard - 3 male and 1 female.

26th Dec - cloudy, dull, mild 10C, very light SW

Cropston Reservoir; a look in this area for Common Redpoll that had been reported, I didn't find any.
I did see a Little Egret, 6 Grey Heron and a few Lapwing at the inlet. At the causeway end birds included a single female Mandarin Duck, a few Gadwall, Cormorants, Great-crested Grebes.

25th Dec - cloudy, dullish/mist, very light breeze, 7C

Willey; a look at the feed station this morning. It was good to find 7 Tree Sparrows, the most since feeding this autumn.  Plenty of Blue and Great Tits, a single Coal Tit and Nuthatch. Long-tailed Tit and Greenfinch were heard. 16+ Collard Doves in the tree next to neighbours farm cattle buildings, feeding on spilt grain.  c20 Redwing and 3 Fieldfares flew over to the fields to the north.

24th Dec - frost last nigh, mist/fog clearing, sunny, very light southerly, 6C

Merry Christmas to all readers🎄🎄🎅

-  thanks for taking the time to read my blog over the year

Misterton; a look this morning here. A Kingfisher was at the lake, plenty of common Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Treecreeper, 3 Nuthatch and Goldcrests.  

Bittesby; after lunch I walked over the farmland at Bittesby which can hold good number of finches during the winter due to the game/bird food crop area. Grain, mainly Oats had been spread around quite a few areas including on the main track.
The grain was attracting a flock of Linnet to the track, about 150 were coming down, plus a few Yellowhammer. At another area 20+ Goldfinches were feeding, a few Reed Buntings were at another spot and a good number of Chaffinch were all over the area..  On the winter cereal near the brook a mixed flock of Starling, Redwing and Fieldfare, plus c10 Skylarks. At one time all the birds flew up alarmed and scattered, I could not see anything to cause this but I could imagine there was a good chance it was a Merlin, these are seen here sometimes, not a Sparrowhawk - maybe next time I'll spot one.  A couple of Buzzard were around and a Green Woodpecker flew over.

Willey; walking back from Bittesby along the lane to the village a Golden Plover was heard as it flew over westward, a pair of Bullfinch were in the hedgerow near the sewage works and about 30 Redwings were feeding on the adjacent pasture.

23rd Dec - cloudy, murky, light rtain - drizzle all day, light westerly, 7C

Rutland Water - dam; despite the grotty weather I visited this area hoping to see the Snow Bunting which have been around several days now and Shag too. The 2 Snow Bunting were on the top of the dam and only occasionally flew in to the rocks avoid a occasional walker/runner.  Good views were had but the weather made photos poor.  Occasionally one bird would feed the other.

Very little was on the adjacent water, a few common duck, a female Goosander, Little and Great crested Grebes, also 3 Shag.

22nd Dec - mostly sunny,light SW, 8C

Willey; a check of my feed station produced Nuthatch, Coal Tit, a Tree Sparrow plus the usual visitors. A Sparrowhawk came by but wasn't hunting.  About 20 Redwing and a few Fieldfare were in the adjacent field, a Raven flew off and c10m Goldfinch were feeding in top of an Ash tree.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here this afternoon, many Gulls around but not that many close in the sandpit area.  The Glaucous Gulls (juv and 2W) have not been seen for several days now, so may have moved on, but 2 records in  December is typical.  January is a good month for them here.

Carl picked out a adult Caspian Gull, likely a female due to its smaller size. The very bright sun made digiscoping tricky.

Also present a couple of Red Kite were present, many Carrion Crows, 9 Shoveler, 2 Teal and a Little Grebe

21st Dec- cloudy, light SW, dull, spots of rain at times, 10C. Rain after 2100h

No Obs.

20th Dec - sunny am, cloudy pm, light SW, 8C

Stanford reservoir; this afternoon 6 Goosanders (2 males) were present, plus the usual winter duck species.  A Great white Egret was searching the edge of the main reed bed, whilst a Little Egret hunted at the inlet, a single Grey Heron flew off.

Few passerines, a mixed flock of common Tits, including about 10 Long-tailed and a Treecreeper.

A Muntjac came out of cover and walked along the path, distantly.

19th Dec - mostly sunny after a wet night, light SW, 7C

Cotesbach Landfill; this afternoon I was hoping for a good Gull watch, however the Falconer was visiting again to disperse the Gulls.  It has little real effect, only to make the Gulls mobile form one area to another.  Today his falcon went off track a bit and brought down and killed a Juv Herring Gull, the falcon was particulaterly pale with few bold markings of a Peregrine and likely of mixed parentage.

A couple of Red Kite were around seemingly ignoring the falcon - why wouldn’t they?

Misterton; I decidedto move on and have a look around the church and lake here, it too was fairly quite. A good number of Blue and Great Tits were foraging in the leaf litter along the lane. A Treecreeper and Great-spotted Woodpecker were present but not a lot else was showing.

18th Dec - rain very early, windy, cloudy, rain again pm and blusterly SW, 7C

No obs.

17th Dec - sunny am, cloudy pm, light SW, 7C

Willey; a Green Woodpecker flew over the fields to the east early.

Sanford reservoir; a look here mid-afternoon. A couple of Great White Egret were present near the hide.  The usual winter duck, Canada and Grey lag Geese. About 40 Fieldfares and a few Redwings were feeding on the berries, a Bullfinch pair, single Goldfinch and Chaffinch.  A Long-tailed Tit flock with Blue and Great Tits, plus 2 Treecreeper.

16th Dec - suny am, clouding over- high, light SW, 8C

Shawell Lagoon; a look here during the morning produced 63 Teal, a Gadwall, 5 Shoveler, at least 8 Cormorants, Grey Heron, Two Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk flew over, a few Redwings and Fieldfare were feeding in the bushes, a Bullfinch was heard and 3 Goldfinch were around.

Brandon Marsh; after lunch a visit here hoping to se the Bittern that has been showing well from the East marsh hide.  There were the usual birds on the eat marsh including the 4 Whooper Swans, these actually flew off mid-afternoon - will they be back?
An adult Yellow legged Gull and Caspian Gull was out with the other Gulls.

While watching the Bittern's favoured reed area 2 Water Rails made frequent appearances.

The Bittern was indeed visible in the reed, but as always it was stationary and you could hardly see it.  After 30 mins or so it did actually moved and enter the cleared channel where fantastic views were had often with a Water Rail nearby - the photos tell the story.

15th Dec - frosty night, cold mod SE, turning SW as storm Deirdre spread over the country,.

A cold morning gave in to cold rain from about mid-day and a gusty wind.

No obs.

14th Dec - hard frost last night. 4C, sunny light wind

Cotesbach Landfill; after getting back from Edinburgh I was able to get an afternoon visit here.

A small number of Teal, Mallard, and Shoveler were in the sandpit portion, a Red Kiter too. Not too many Gulls here, however there was many Gulls on the far side and round to the landfill area.  Eventually when one large group flew off the landfill a 2W Glaucous Gull was seen flying among them, it returned back to the landfill area. (Sorry Alan you missed it - next time).

13th Dec - cloudy, 8C Edinburgh

No obs - busy

12th Dec - cloudy, 8C

No obs

11th Dec - Edinburgh, cloudy, light southerly, 7C

Balgreen Edinburgh; waxwing had been seen here yesterday, so two stops on the Tram first thing saw me looking for them. After walking round the whole area I found them only a short walk from the stop, I should have turned right instead of left!  About 55 were in a treetop, often dropping down to eatRowan berries near a path.

Musselburgh; here next to view the sea and Esk estruary area.  A single ‘redhead’ Goosander on the river, plenty of Goleneye and more on the sea.  A good number of Eider, 18 Long-tailed Duck, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, Common and Velvet Scoter, a single Scaup, 2 Shag.  Great-Crested Grebes, a Little Grebe and 2 Slavonian Grebe. A Red-throated Diver and a unidentifiable Diver.

Waders included Oystercatchers, Redshank, Turnstone, Knot, Curlew, Grey Plover, Black- and Bar-tailed Godwits.

A couple of Rock Pipit were along the boulders.

10th Dec - cloudy, light-mod NW, 9C

Cotesbach landfill;  a look hereduting the morning in case the Glaucous Gull was around still, I didn’t find it, although there were 000’s in the area.  One Red Kite was present.

Flying to Edinburgh tonight.

9th Dec - mostly sunny, mod NW, 9C

Eyebrooke reservoir; a look here this afternoon, plenty of the common winter duck, plus 3 male Pintails.  Waders included a small number of Golden Plover, plenty of Lapwing, 2 Ruff, 3 Dunlin and a Redshank.

A single Little Egret was feeding along the inlet brook, a female Kestrel was hunting over the rough pasture.