31st Dec - cloudy, 7C, light easterly

Willey; a check of the feed station after lunch, c25 House and 1 Tree Sparrow, 1 Coal, Blue and Great Tits, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Pheasants.  Six greenfinch and 1 Bullfinch in adjacent hedge, 1 Buzzard over.

Seeswood Pool; a check this morning for the Ferruginous Duck, but not located (no reports by the end of the day from anyone).  A Mistle Thrush was singing when I arrived, a Grey Wagtail on the dam.  A couple of Buzzards were almost displaying.

30th Dec - fog lingered until midday, then sunny, 8C, light SW

Cotesbach landfill; tipping was underway today and this attracted hundreds of Gulls, the smell of food probably very tempting after several days of no tipping.

The highlights were an adult Iceland and juv Glaucous Gull found by Carl, fortunately they stayed on show until I got there.  Also several Caspian Gulls.

29th Dec - cloudy am, breaking pm, 7C, light SW

Cotesbach landfill; a look this morning, not surprisingly as no tipping today, very few Gulls, mostly Great black backed, the usual ducks and 5 Red Kite.

Sanford Hall area; checked the Canada and Grey Lag Goose flock here, but nothing unusual with them this time. Plenty of Wigeon feeding around the lakes and a Mistle thrush feeding on the entrance grasslands.
Plenty of Black-headed Gulls feeding on the wet monument fields, with c40 Lapwing. A pair of Mistle Thrush too.

 Stanford reservoir; rather quiet this afternoon, the water rather muddy looking still after the extensive wet period.  Only the expected ducks, Goldeneye are down to 1 or 2 currently   c34 Golden Plover flew over and probably landed on nearby farmland.

28th Dec - cloudy, 9C, light S

Cotesbach landfill; Carl text to say he had an Iceland Gull, probably a 3rd winter Kumlien's Gull.  Fortunately, when I arrived it was still there and showing well floating on the water, Carl had been able to see plenty of plumage features convincingly to be confident it was a Kumlien's Gull.  I managed to get some record digiscoped photos.

27th Dec - cloudy, misty off and on, drizzle late pm, 6C, light SW

Shawell lagoons; a look first thing, 3 Snipe just showing in the reed bed, 2 Cormorants, a single Wigeon, 35 Lapwings and 9 Teal, plus a number of usual Gulls.

Cotesbach landfill; plenty of Gulls sitting near the tipping site, but nothing special noted.  No Red Kites either, not ideal weather for Kite-flying. Otherwise the usual mix of duck was present.

26th Dec - showers/drizzle most of the day, 6C, mod-light SW

Weather wise today was a bit grim, after a morning vintage event I decided to go see the Ferruginous Duck at Seeswood Pool, near Nuneaton.  Well, I arrived and another birder told me the duck had flown off 5 minutes earlier, I gave it an hour but it did not returned.

Not a lot else on view either, Tufties, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, BH Gulls and a Grey Wagtail was about it.

25th Dec - mostly sunny, light SE, 7C

Merry Christmas.

Over at Theddingworth today. A male and female Great -spotted Woodpecker on the nuts.
About 2000h, a Tawny Owl was calling loudly from a Horse Chesnut Tree.

24th Dec - mostly sunny, mod SW, 9C

Stanford Reservoir; morning.
Great and Little Egret near the in flow. Only the usual duck seen today.. Four Bullfinch in water side trees, a female Kestrel hunting, about 40 Fieldfare and 15 Redwings feeding on the field.  A Stonechat on the laurel hedge where its ben favouring.  Very few other passerines around.  A Cetti’s Warbler heard in the waterside bushes, About 100 Lapwing over to local fields.

Stanford Hall - monument fields area
c100 Starlings, plenty of Black-headed and Common Gulls feeding on the very wet fields. c300 Lapwing at the flood pools.
Lake side 2 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron, plus the Canada and Grey Lag Geese.


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23rd Dec - sunny spells, light WSW, 8C

Cotesbach landfill; a look here this morning.  Plenty of Gulls, but too distance for good viewing today.
The ducks in the flooded area included a Shelduck, not that usual this time of year.  Good numbers of Teal, Shoveler (25), Mallard and Tufted duck.  three Red Kites over the tip.

22nd Dec - high cloud, sunny spells, 7C, light SW

Willey;
At last the shortest day has just about gone, what will the winter bring us?

0830h a Raven on patrol over the Sheep fields/.

Mid-day a check of the feed station, c15 House Sparrows, a Yellowhammer, 4+ Chaffinch, Blue, Great and a Coal tit, 3 Pheasants and Nuthatch plus a few other regulars.

C12 Redwing flew in and settled atop the tall hedge, one tried to soak up the sunny spell.

21st Dec - sunny spells, 9C, light Southerly

Due to yesterdays rain the day was spent pumping water away.

The only obs was of 12 Collared Doves that flew southward from their usual site in the village, presumably they have a farm feeding area somewhere near.

20th Dec - wet,wet, wet, light S, 7C

Never seen so many places water-logged.
About 18 mm today on top of the recent weeks wet weather, standing water everywhere.

19th Dec- Mostly cloudy am, SE light increasing mod with rain later, 11C

Willey; a busy day and not too much around, a few Redwings and Fieldfares over at time.
Worth noting that 70-100 Starlings come in to roost, about 1530h, making a very small murmuration before entering the large laurel bushes to roost.

18th Dec - misty start, clearing to high broken cloud, mod SE freshening pm, 8C

Cotesbach landfill; early pm.  Thousands of Gulls over the tipping area and circling distantly unfortunately not easy to see today just the expected ones resting on the sandpit flooded areas.

A Gadwall pair present, not often seen here, with 22 Mallard;  Shoveler 19, Teal 6 and 6 Teal.  Four Red Kites and 2 Buzzards were present.

17th Dec - very misty all day, cloudy, 5 C

A pretty grim day weather wise.
Willey; a check of the feed station mid-day.  Present were House Sparrows,  bBlue, Great and a Coal Tit.  Several Chaffinch, a Yellowhammer, 3 Pheasants, 2 Blackbirds and a Nuthatch. The occasional Redwing flew over, a Kestrel too and a Mistle Thrush nearby.

16th Dec - sunny spells, light SW, 6C

Willey; a busy day catching doing jobs, but during the day a few obs.

This morning a couple of Buzzards around the fields to the west, a number of Chaffinch and possible Reed Buntings in the hedge next to stubble fields - will have to check these another day.

A Grey Wagtail paid a visit to the cattle barns, both Green and Great-spotted Woodpeckers were seen and a Nuthatch was heard near the paddock feed station.

15th Dec - sunny spells, light- mod SW, 6 C

Willey; 4 Greylag Geese flew over westward,
About 100 Fieldfares and 30 Redwings were feeding on a winter wheat field to the east.

Shawell Lagoons; a couple of Snipe were visible, plus 47 Wigeon, a 5 Teal and 5 Tufted Duck, one Great-crested Grebe and 2 Cormorant.

Stanford hall; a look at the Goose flock again, but again no Brent Goose. At the lake 3 Little grebe and Cormorant, a few Wigeon over the far pool.  A couple of Stock Dove on the drive.

Bittesby; had a walk around the fields here after lunch, fairly quiet except a mixed Thrush flock, Starlings and Linnets.  At least 300 Redwings and 120 Starlings.

14th Dec - sunny spells, mod-brisk westerly, 6C

Cotesbach Landfill; a look after lunch, very little generally about, but 31 Shoveler sheltering from the wind.

Stanford Hall area; a check on the Canada/GreyLag flock did not produce the Brent Goose.  Although numbers of these geese were about half normally seen, so there a chance it was still local with others.
Black-headed and Common Gulls were busy foot 'paddling' on the grassy areas.
A couple of Nuthatch were excited in the trees near the entrance gates.

On the flooded 'monument' fields there was c100 Lapwing, c70 Starling and many BH Gulls feeding.

13th Dec - sunny spells, mod W, 6C

Cotesbach Landfill; only time for a short visit before lunch.  Plenty of Gulls , disturbed by working activities and most dispersed.
15 Shoveler and 37 Tufted Duck, only one Red Kite seen.

12th Dec - mostly sunny, 5C, light SW

Edinburgh; a busy day, just a short walk around St. Mary’s Cathedral area and nearby gardens.  High up on one of the cathedrals spires evidence that a Peregrine resides, but not seen today. The gardens were pretty empty too, several singing Great Tits and a Goldcrest were noted. There are many berries bushes in this area and surely Waxwings would appear some day to feast.

11th Dec - mostly sunny, mod SW, 4C

Musselburgh; I made a short visit to the Esk estuary and shore area first thing.
The most notable bird was a drake Surf Scoter, seen on the sea, then flew east, fortunately landing again with 10 Velvet Scoter on the water giving good views.
A few Common Scoter, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 3 Long-tailed Duck, plenty of Eider, Wigeon and Mallard.
Waders included Curlew, Turnstone, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Bar-tailed Godwit.

A great p”ace to visit.

10th Dec - Edinburgh very windy and wet, 10C

Edinburgh, arrived here last night for a meeting this week, just clashing with a bad spell of wet and windy weather, hopefully opportunity to get out will occur.

First thing popped 10 mins on the team to Gorgie area to see if yesterday’s reported Waxwings were still present. Arriving at the site - nothing, very windy conditions and wet.  Waiting under shelter of Aldi store a bird appear in the ‘berried’ Rowan - a Mistle Thrush, then a Blackbird, both only staying briefly. Then, about 20 Waxwing flew in to the tree, they fed briefly as they were blown about, before flying off.

9th Dec - mostly cloudy, light SW, 8C

Willey; a quick check around the feed station and church areas.

A  Kestrel flew over heading to the fields to the east.
A Great-spotted Woodpecker on the nut feeder and a Green Woodpecker flew passed.  Plenty of House Sparrows, a few Chaffinch and usual  Tits, a couple of hen Pheasant.
Apart from Blackbird no other Thrushes seen in the Yew or Holly Trees.

8th Dec - sunny, increasing cloud and wind, a few short showers pm, (C, WSW

Willey; A Raven over the fields this morning, heading towards Newnham Paddox, and yesterday morning too.


Shawell Lagoons and Cotesbach landfill; Generally very little around, probably the weather is keeping birds grounded.

4 Snipe visible in the reeds at the lagoons.  6 Red Kite at the landfill, plus the usual ducks in the sandpit area.

Stanford Hall area; afternoon, the Dark-bellied Brent Goose was again with the Canada Geese - it looks pretty settled, will it stay until the new year?

Stanford reservoir; many Duck and Geese were seeking shelter from the wind near the dam, but others were braving the 'choppy' water.  Teal were right out in the middle, 13.
A Kestrel was hunting over the adjacent rough field.

7th Dec - sunny spells, light SSW, 9C

Stanford Hall, Stanford on Avon; I decided to check the Goose flock here to see if the Brent Goose was hanging out with them,  I soon spotted it among the Canada Goose flock on the grassland, a 1st W black-bellied form.

On the lake several Cormorant, 3 Little Grebe and Wigeon.  A Green Woodpecker called and a couple of Stock Dove were feeding on the driveway.

North Kilworth; late afternoon I checked a set-aside field that look ideal for Short-eared Owl, I didn't see one but a male Peregrine flew over.
In the bordering hedge were Redwings, Goldfinch, Tits and Reed Bunting.

6th Dec - cloudy am, showers, some heavy pm, 11C, light-mod SSW

WIlley;
A Raven flew over low westward, 0830h, calling, no doubt checking the Sheep fields.

Late morning 30+ House Sparrows at the feed station, plus a Nuthatch, Coal Tit and other usual visitors.

The Redwings have just about cleared the Yew trees of berries, may be they will start on the Holly berries now, a good year for them.

Braunstone Park, Leicester; Popped in here whilst passing to check for Ring-necked Parakeets, but I didn't see any.  However, I did spot a Sparrowhawk bathing, a Green Woodpecker, 4 Goldfinch, Moorhens everywhere, Black-headed and Common Gulls on the open grass areas, plus c 45 Starlings feeding.

5th Dec - sunny spells, becoming cloudy/spots rain mid afternoon, 6C, light - breezy SSW

Cotesbach landfill: morning.

A sub-adult Caspian was showing well among the Gull flock.

Quite a few Mallard in today (21), Teal 29, Shoveler 2 and Tufted 29. Eight Red Kites over the tip.

Stanford reservoir;
Highlights were a Stonechat and c15 Goldfinch bird food crop in field near old hide.  4+ Reed Bunting in the ';orchard' area.  Several Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk.  A single Goosander flew over, 43 Goldeneye plus all the other usual duck species. on the feeder 4+ Tree Sparrow and a single Coal Tit.

Little Egret and grey Heron on the outlet river.  A Green Woodpecker near the dam was calling.

4th Dec - mostly sunny, light southerly, 6C

Unfortunately, no obs today.

3rd Dec - mostly sunny, light SW, 6C

Willey; am, still only a single Trees Sparrow coming to the feed station, hopefully more will appear this month. otherwise all the regulars at the feed station.  20+ Redwing in the church Yew trees.
14 Golden plover noted flying high NW.

Stanford reservoir; short  mid morning look around dam area.  A Stonechat on the fence by the overflow.  Only one Goldeneye drake spotted.  Two Grey Wagtails on dam with Pied Wagtails.  otherwise very quiet.

2nd Dec - frost last night -4C, sunny spells, light N, 6C

WIlley; this morning c40 Redwings flew out of the church Yews where they were eating the berries.

Cotesbach landfill; a look this afternoon, many Gulls, one colour ringed LBBG on the bank in the sunshine -red/blue AMT.   No sign of 'white-wingers', however juv Iceland and adult Glaucous were reported in the Draycote Water roost this evening- so hopefully both very soon here.

A fraction of the Gulls resting away from the tipping area.

26 Teal, 34 Tufted Duck and 14 Shoveler were present too.

1st December - touch of frost, mostly sunny, 6C, cool light Northerly

Shawell Lagoons; morning - highlights 15+ Snipe, 104 Lapwing, 4 Cormorants.

Cotesbach Landfill; morning - few Gulls - no tipping.  13 Shoveler, 22 Teal, Red Kite 10.

Stanford reservoir;  a full walk round this afternoon, at last a reasonable day for this without getting wet.  Plenty of the usual ducks, 5 Goldeneye and one male Goosander.  Two Egyptian Geese flew in when I was leaving, but most extraordinary, just before this (1530h) a call drew my attention to a bird flying low eastward and on checking I could see it was a lone Brent Goose - the first record here since 2014.
A couple of Buzzards were in the waterside trees, a Kestrel at the inlet, Redwings and Fieldfares all around in small numbers, a female Bullfinch, only 1 Tree Sparrow at the feed station - the numbers have been very low this year, we are wondering why?

A large patch of fungi was noted under the trees near the dam.

A rainbow added colour before a lovely sunset.

30th Nov - frost last ni9ght -3C, today fog clearing then sunny, 5C, light ENE

Willey; late morning a Grey Squirrel, along with Redwings, was enjoying the Yew berries again.

Misterton; in the area of the church and lake Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Redwings, Treecreeper and Green Woodpecker were all present.

Cotesbach landfill; afternoon) a 1W Caspian Gull picked out by Carl among the Gulls on the tip.  Green and Common Sandpiper again.

South Kilworth - old railway; late afternoon.  a good number,100+,  of Fieldfare and Redwing in the bushes and adjacent stubble fields.  A Great Egret flew over towards Stanford reservoir about roost time. Six Greenfinch flew by and landed atop the tall bushes.

29th Nov - frosty night, sunny, light WSW, 6C

Willey; the feed station was busy today with plenty of House Sparrows, Chaffinch, a Yellowhammer, Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Collared Doves plus the other usual visitors. Redwings and 2+ Greenfinch were feeding on the Church Yew trees, also a Goldcrest was present. The occasional Fieldfare flew over.

Cotesbach Landfill; an afternoon visit.  Many, many Gulls, no early ‘white-wingers’ yet.  A Common and Green Sandpiper feeding close to each other in the sandpit area. A few Shoveler and Teal, plus Tufted Ducks were present.  A Buzzard surveyed the scene from its tree perch. Only a single Red Kite seen.

Masses of Gulls