24th Feb- mist clearing quickly, sunny, 16C, light SE

Willey; early, in the mist several Redwing could be heard calling as they left their roost in the church lane thicket.  A little later couple of Mute Swans flew over towards Newnham Paddox lakes.  I checked out the feed station  later, at least 10 tree Sparrows plus all the other usuals.  Two Goldcrest were in the Church yews, one singing.
A distant butterfly, possibly a Small Tortoiseshell flew over the paddock.

Stanford reservoir; a walk around here after lunch.  the weather is far to nice for much bird movement to be occurring, so very much the same species as normal.  3 Jay along the by-pass, 3 Redwing and 5 Fieldfares too.  A Grey Wagtail on the dam and Green Sandpiper at the outlet area.  A Great Egret flew over east and settled in the field near the river. Plenty of Shoveler, 8 Goldeneye, 7 Teal and a good number of Tufted Duck were on the water.

A Red Kite flew over, Skylarks on adjacent fields were singing, plenty of Black-headed Gulls were hawking insects high-up.  At least 5 Stock Doves were flying on to the fallow field.

I was expecting early butterflies and found 3 Comma flying.  The wild plum tree was in flower and has plenty of Bee (unknown spp.) feeding on it.