31st Jan - good frost last night, at least -6C, sunny am, cloudy pm, light east/SE, 3C, feeling much colder

No obs today.

Ground mostly frozen , some light thawing in sun, only a little.

30th Jan - about -3C last night, sunny am, mostly sunny pm. 3C, very light SSW.

Today, in the sunshine, warmth developed to give a reasonable ground thaw.allowing birds to feed more easily.
I completed the BTO winter farmland bird survey this afternoon on a defined route near Bitteswell. The highlights were 2 Ravens, 4 Mistle Thrush feeding on pasture, a hunting Sparrowhawk. Only a handful of Redwing and Fieldfare around here today.

29th Jan - mod frost last night, cloudy, light westerly, 5C. Light rain pm, turning a little wintery in evening

Busy day - no obs.

I did hear a Coal Tit singing briefly this morning in the Church yard Yews.

28th Jan - sunny all day, light frost last night, light westerly, 5C

Willey; mid morning a Raven was calling from the Sheep pastures to the north.  Late morning 3 Buzzards were having a minor territorial dispute, calling and chasing off. This behaviour should be increasing from now on.

27th Jan - mod-strong gusty (upto 40mph at times) NW, 6C - but feeling freezing, mostly cloudy.

A very chilly day with most birds sheltering from the wind.

Willey; I did check the feed station this morning, a good number of birds making the most of it.  The Nuthatch, Collard Dove were visiting, plus most of the usual (see yesterday) visitors. Despite the wind at least 2 Greenfinch were singing nearby.

Theddingworth; towards the hills there was a good flock of Rook feeding on pasture, a mixed flock of Redwing, Fieldfare and Starling were flew in to the tops of poplars trees before heading off to pastures to feed.  Mallard were seen flying off and a few Pheasant were around the cereal field edges.  Passerines were keeping out of the wind today.

26th Jan - high cloud, mod-fresh SW, 9C, but feeling cold.

Hanging Houghton; the weather was forecast to become wet and windy midday-ish (it didn't) so first thing I decided to go to see the Great Grey Shrike that has been present a few days.  It had just been seen when I arrived, but had dropped down out of view. In fact, it was a good 45 mins before it was seen again, now a few hundred metres further along the hedgerow.  It was sitting up and showing well before again dropping down out of view and lost again.

Lots of passerines and Skylarks in the cover/bird food crops which are sown around here.
Plenty of spilt grain at the big barn where c40 Chaffinch and 3 Brambling were feeding.

Willey; at my feed station 8 Tree Sparrow, c25 House Sparrow, c6 Long-tailed Tit, 10+ each of Blue and Great Tit.

25th Jan - cloudy, small breaks, light- mod westerly, 10 C

A mild interlude today.

Stanford Reservoir; a quick look late afternoon.  Nothing unusual, a couple of Little Grebes I haven’t seen for awhile.  36 Fieldfare flew in to roost into the thicket.  Checked the Gull roost,  but no white-wingers today.

24th Jan - cloudy, misty awhile, slow thawing, light SW, 4C

Willey; a mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare feeding on part frozen sheep pastureto to the west, max 100 birds.
Great Tit heard singing today.

I did find, a couple of days ago, a mess of white feathers next to a hedgerow and on top of it remains of a Common Gull.  I assume a Sparrowhawk was most likely, maybe an outside chance of a Peregrine, but I would not expect the remains on the hedge but the ground.  Anyhow, first thing the following morning I just caught sight of a Buzzard retrieving the remains off the hedge and taking them into the nearby wood.  Nothing goes to waste!  I checked - no ring on the Gull’s legs - pity.

23rd Jan - wintery showers and frost last night gave a little white cover this morning. Sunny all day, 3C light SW.

No obs today.
Frost not too hard and thawed in the sunshine.

22nd Jan - frost last night, sunny am, cloudy pm with wintry showers, 4C

Willey; mid morning a Raven flew south, low, calling passed the village.

Good numbers of birds currently attending my feed station, including  at least 9 Tree Sparrow, Long-tailed and Coal Tits, many Blue and Great. 3+ Yellowhammer, Chaffinches and Greenfinches, Nuthatch and Pheasant.

21st Jan - cloudy, light SW,, 4C, feeling cold

Willey; this morning a Great-spotted Woodpecker was drumming in a hedgerow Ash tree, the first Ive heard this year drumming.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look at the Gulls after lunch - Large number of Gulls at the landfill, not a large number in the sandpit area. The regular 2nd winter Glaucous Gull was present washing and preening with the other regular Gulls. Today, there seemed a particularly large number of Black-headed Gulls at the landfill itself.

Also present were Teal, Shoveler, Mallard and Mute Swan.

20th Jan - high cloud, almost still, 5C

Rutland Water; a visit here to catch up with Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes among other species.  Two each of these Grebes were in the north arm and showing well, sometimes together as a group.  In the area were good numbers of Great-crested and Little Grebes too. Over to the Old Hall area next.  Close in was a Tufted Duck flock and 2 Scaup were with them.  A Red-necked Grebe has been in this area al winter (I saw it in December), but I could not find it today.  A pair of Egyptian Geese were mating. Two Great Northern Divers were present, sometimes coming close to shore. Viewing the south arm III area I could see several Pintail and Red-crested Pochard with the other usual winter ducks.

I then popped to the centre (permit renewal) and checked the birds from here. A pair of Stonechat were busy feeding in the 'reeded' area, quite a few Goosander, several Curlew, Shelduck and other expected birds were on the lagoons.

On the way home I stopped off at a site where Short-eared Owls have been seen.  At exactly 1600h one flew in to the game crop field from the SSW and started to hunt, wonderful to watch.

19th Jan - cloudy, spots of rain occasionally, light SE-East, 4C

Shawell Lagoons; a look here did not produce much in the way of ducks, a single Great-crested Grebe. However this winter a Lapwing flock has been building and I counted 552 today.

Stanford Reservoir; a visit here in the afternoon, nothing too different than other recent visits. A single female Goosander was present until nearby shooting scared it off.  Redwing and Fieldfare were along the fallow field side. From this field c30 Linnets and c15 Meadow Pipits flew up in to the tops of the Poplar trees.

Some 'brown' fungi were spotted nearby.

18th Jan - frost last night, cloudy, light NW, 4C

Stanford Reservoir; a look this afternoon and waited to see the Gull roost. A Glaucous and Iceland Gull were seen last evening by Chris, these are birds we see at the landfill and usually roost at Draycote.  Alas, they did show this evenings roost.

A Great White and Little Egret were present at the reservoir.  A small flock of Starlings flew passed to their roost elsewhere whilst c15 Fieldfare flew into the bushes here to roost.

17th Jan - frost last night, mostly sunny today, cool 4C, mod NW

We seem to have lost the recent mild weather and now in for a period of cooler weather from the north, hopefully nothing too bad on its way.

Willey; the Green Woodpecker was heard several times, and Nuthatch.   This morning a mixed flock of Redwing, Fieldfare and Starlings (~ 40) were feeding on sheep pasture to the east of the village.

16th Jan- sunny spells am, cloudy and light rain pm, becoming cooler afterwards

Willey; a busy day but I did notice a few Redwings and Fieldfares around the area, also a Buzzard flew over the village.

15th Jan - sunny spells, light westerly, 9C

Stanford reservoir; a visit here after lunch hoping to see the Pink-footed Geese that was found here yesterday by Chris, mixed in with the Grey Lag Geese.  Checking through those Geese on the dam I didn't find them.  A few birds were on the water nearby, so I walked along to be able to see them better and surprise 2 Greater White-fronted Geese were just swimming to the dam - but no Pink-feet.  They seemed settled and did some preening and bathing.

After awhile they flew a short way on to the corn field and fed with more Grey Lags.  I never did find the Pink-feet.

Usual winter ducks were present but few Passerines seen. A Blackbird and Song Thrush were feeding on the dam slope.

On a pasture near the reservoir entrance a missed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare was feeding, at least 100 Fieldfares.

14thJan sunny spells, light westerly, 9C

No obs today.

13th Jan - light rain/drizzle am, cloudy with mod-gusty WNW, 10C but feeling cooler in wind

Eyebrook reservoir; a look here after lunch, the wind was causing the water to be quite rough, but plenty of ducks were about. I spotted several Smew, and ended up wit 6 'redheads' and 3 drakes.

All around the reservoir there was a considerable number of Lapwing, with them at the inlet c500 Golden Plover.  Also, present 50+ Dunlin.

A Red kite flew over and disturbed the Lapwing/Plovers a little, but they soon returned and settled down.  

12th Jan - cloudy and dull, some light rain early, light westerly, 8C

Willey; a check of my feed station this morning. All the usual's, included only a couple of Tree Sparrow, a male Great-spotted woodpecker.  A Kestrel flew over low and settled on the Church tower.  Seven Greenfinch flew in and sat atop the lane hedgerow. A Mistle Thrush was eating berries nearby.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here after lunch, not too many Gulls in the sandpit area to view, many had moved off earlier.  However, the 2W Glaucous Gull turned up and stayed a while, considered the same bird first seen in December.

11th Jan- cloudy, light NW, 7C

Another day looking around some north Norfolk sites after meeting up with Steve who lives there.

Holme NOA; first thing a sea watch from the dunes.  A very good morning which included a Black-throated Diver (local rarity), plenty of Red-throated and at least 1 Great-northern Diver.  c20 Long-tailed Duck, c50 Eider, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Scoter, a Red-necked Grebe, several Great-crested Grebe, a Shag, several Fulmar, a couple of Guillemots.
Around the reserve a Water Rail was heard, plus the usual duck and Little Grebe. On the marsh/meadows, plenty of Lapwing, some Ruff with them, Curlew too.  A Barn Owl was seen hunting.  Brent and Pink-footed Geese were always present.

Thornham harbour; we had a look here for the Twite, at least 12 were feeding on the salt marsh by the path and occasionally coming to the puddles in the car park to bath and drink.

Over the Thornham marsh/meadows a huge flock of Pink-footed Geese came in and very noisily settled down.  Probably the largest single flock I have ever seen, an estimate of 6000 but very difficult to be accurate with some many birds.  I took this phone picture quickly, just a fraction of the flock in the air..

Choseley Barns area;  we checked this area particularly for the Rough-legged Buzzard that has been seen wintering in this area.  There were several Common Buzzards around but not the Rough-legged. However, a pair of Grey Partridge flew out of the hedge bottom in to the field which were nice to see and made a change to the many Red-legged Partridge that were present. A female Sparrowhawk was hunting along one hedgerow, giving chase to any passerine in sight.

Titchwell reserve; a walk down the main path to the shore and Parrinder hide was planned for the rest of the afternoon.  A Water Rail was in the ditch feeding in the usual area at the start of the path. The Fresh Marsh currently has high water to kill off vegetation so its suitable for the returning breeders and migrants. So, not too much on it except the usual range of duck species and Brent Geese, plenty of Lapwing and Golden Plover on one island.  A Water Pipit had been seen here too, after a considerable period of searching through the island vegetation the Pipit was found and fortunately came out of the cover giving reasonable views.

The Volunteer Marsh also didn't have too much on it, 3 Pintail were seen flying off.  The usual common waders, including this very close Grey Plover.

As the tide was out there was a selection of waders feeding including Sanderling and Bar-tailed Godwit.  Little was also seen off-shore at this time, Grebe-crested Grebe and Goldeneye.

We headed back up the path to look over the distant reed bed to watch the Marsh Harriers coming in to roost, yesterday the RSPB counted 57 and 1 Hen Harrier.  Steadily the Harriers were flying in over the marshes to the roost area, sometime 10 in the air all close together, it was a great sight. At one point I spotted a ringtail Hen Harrier coming in and made others aware. It hunted a while before dropping down out of view.  Well worth visiting just to see this spectacle.

10th Jan - cloudy, light-mod NW, 4C

Holkham, Norfolk; explored the area around Holkham gap and water meadows.  On the saltmarsh 20+ Shore Larks were feeding, quite difficult to see as they kept to the vegetated area, but good views were had once located. Further along near the sand dunes 23 Snow Buntings were very active feeding and kept moving.  Several Brent Geese were also on the salt marsh.

A quick look off shore produced Common Scoter, Red-throated Diver, a Razorbill flying past and Red-breasted Merganser. Curlew, Sanderling and Redshanks were present too.
A Red Kite, 2+ Buzzards and 2 Kestrel were over the water meadows. About 1230h many hundred Pink-feet Geese flew from inland and landed on the meadows, there calls and skiens filling the sky.

At the west end of the meadows c150 White-fronted Geese were feeding. A Grey Heron and Great White Egret were present in the reeds.  Plenty of Shelduck, Wigeon and Teal, plus a single Egyptian Goose.  Curlew were also feeding on the meadows.

Wells Harbour; at the end of the day a look in Wells Harbour for the Glaucous Gull which has been present a few days, no joy though.  A good spot was a Greenshank feeding in the channel, plus Turnstone, a Ring Plover and 4 Black-tailed Godwit.

9th Jan - sunny spells am, cloudy pm, light NW, 4C

Another busy day doing jobs before getting ready to visit Norfolk.  Should have a good selection of one tomorrow from there.

8th Jan - mostly sunny, 8C, feeling like 4C in mod NW

A busy day, no obs other than a Mistle Thrush in the church yard.

7th Jan - cloudy, light westerly, breezy pm, 10C

Cotesbach landfill; I went to view the Gulls this afternoon, as expected more visiting 'birders' getting their year ticks - namely the white-wingers' and Caspian Gull.

A juvenile Glaucous Gull and 2W Iceland Gull were in attendance, plus a Yellow-legged Gull.

I didn't see any Red Kites today, not very often that happens here.

6th Jan - cloudy am, a few sunny spells early pm then cloudy, 9C, light westerly

Stanford reservoir; a look this afternoon. At first it seemed very quiet, just the usual species and few passerines.  A Willow Tit called and a Goldcrest was singing, 2 Jays flew in to the adjacent wood, and another was near the dam.  A large Grey Lag Goose flock again, few Wigeon, c20 Shoveler and Goldeneye, plus Tufties,  Gadwall and Mallard.
On the south side over the adjacent field I noticed something flushed c40 Lapwing and the Gulls off the field, nothing was visible. A few minutes later I spotted what was the likely cause, along the fallow strip I noticed the ringtail Hen Harrier hunting, giving some good views. It was working along the strip and heading towards me and I was hoping it would keep coming for some close photos. However, unknown to him, another visitor walked from the blind corner which the Harrier spotted and decided to fly back whence it came.  Its been in the area a while now so hopefully a future chance will occur.

Just passed the feed station a Treecreeper was working up a Popular tree, several Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting were feeding on the ground in the leaf litter. A few Redwing were in the hedgerow, along with Song Thrush and Blackbird, only 1 Fieldfare.  A Snipe flew over, while c20 Meadow Pipit flew up off the field and settles in the Popular tree tops, a single Skylark circled.

A Great Egret was standing the in field at the inlet and a couple of Little Egrets were along the river.

5th Jan - cloudy dull, very light wersterly, 6C

Bradgate Park/Cropston reservoir; I visited here today particularly to search through the Lesser Redpoll flock which has had 1-2 Common (Mealy) Redpoll in.  I and some others did see one bird that looked very good for a Common Redpoll, distinctly showing the plumage and size expected.  The flock was 'f'lighty' as many people walked along the path with accompanying noise making it difficult to get a photograph.

I was also told of a Little Owl nearby and went to view, it was present, and showing well.  The haze in the photograph is actually a high stone wall that was between me and the Owl - so out of focus!

There was nothing much on the reservoir, only a small flock of Lapwing at the inlet.

4th Jan - frost last night -4C, cloudy, light Northerly

No Obs

3rd Jan - High cloud, very light northerly, 4C

Willey; a Green Woodpecker was in the wood to the east and a Mistle Thrush was attending to the berries on the Holly tree in the church garden.

Loughborough; in the afternoon I visited the Park road area hoping to see reported Waxwing. I didn’t see any but was surprised by other birds in the area which included a good number of Starling, Goldfinch and Collared Doves, and a few House Sparrows.  A Little Egret flew over SE.

2nd Jan - cloudy, 5C, very light NW

Willey; I checked out my feed station this morning, a good variety in small numbers though. Five Tree Sparrows were present, plus Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch to name a few.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here during the afternoon hoping to catch up with more ‘white-wingers’. Thousands of Gulls but no ‘white-wingers’were found.  A couple of Red Kite were present.

1st Jan 2019 - cloudy/drizzle alittle am, broken cloud pm, light NW, 9C

Happy New Year

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here this morning, Carl was already there and had seen both the 2W and adult Glaucous Gulls, however nearby shooting had flushed most of the Gulls away.   After a little searching I re-found the 2W Glaucous and was able to view it well and get record photos.

Carl also spotted a Green Sandpiper, which is always a good winter record. Several Shoveler and Teal were also present.

Shawell Lagoons; I checked here as the Gulls sometimes re-group here when disturbed, although there was a good number of Gulls no further 'white-wingers'.  There was a large number of Lapwing present, I counted 560.

Pitsford reservoir; I decided to have a walk here as its quite a big reserve area and provides lots of habitat, plus a pleasant area for a walk.  Some scarce birds have been around so maybe I would see one if still present. At the feed station area there was Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrows and Reed Bunting, plus Blue and great Tits.  A Few Redwing and Fieldfare were on the nearby pasture.
I had heard the Ring-necked Duck had been seen from a local birder so I decided to scan the area towards Walsgrave Bay.   There was a good number of Ducks present and being such a large area scanning the area takes a while. After about 20 mins I found the Ring-necked Duck with a group of Tufted Duck and had good views.,  Also, in the area 3 Great White Egrets.

I had also heard there was a Great northern Diver on the main water, so I headed off along the east side, the sun had broken through and all looked splendid.  I did find the Diver near Pintail Bay, it was heading towards the narrows.  It was busy fishing so was under the water more than above, I did managed some quick record photos.