12th Nov Thursday - A slight frost last night. Sunny, mod NW, 8C, feeling cool.

 Shawell Sandpit/Landfill area; afternoon.

26 Red Kites, c 20 Ravens and c300 Starlings around the landfill area.

Very large number of Gulls in today as they were tipping in the landfill.

20 Gadwall, 33 Teal, five Pochard, 11 Shoveler, one Wigeon, 26 Tufted, c 15 mallards and eight Little Grebes and a Grey Heron.

A Peregrine atop the works yard light.

Shawell Lagoons; afternoon.

Rather quite on the lagoon, just a Mute Swan, two Mallard, three Teal, Moorhen and Coot.  One or two Common and Black-headed Gulls dropped in.

A Roe Deer popped out of the thick reed area, and a few Long-tailed Tits along the boundary saplings.

11th Nov Wednesday - light nrain am, cloudy/hazy, 9C, light NE

Willey; morning.

A Red Kite and two Ravens over.  Kestrel hunting just to the east.

Fewer Redwings around and only c3 Fieldfares seen.

Eight Greenfinch and a Goldfinch in the Church lane hedge.

Stanford Reservoir; afternoon.

Very similar to yesterday.

Along one Leics bank section I counted 29 Little and 21 Great Egrets, plus several Grey Herons.

Four 'redhead' Goosanders, two female Goldeneyes.

Plenty of Chaffinches again, with Redwings, Fieldfares and Starlings along the track using the puddles.

10th Nov Tuesday - early mist, the cloudy, dull and hazy, light E, 8C

Willey; morning

I noticed a few Redwings coming and going to the church Yew trees as usual, berries nearly all gone, then something in the Church yard made them fly out of the trees, I couldn't believe that about c50 flew out of the trees.  They are so well hidden in the Yew.

The Sparrowhawk flew past later, the Nuthatch was calling again.  A few Fieldfares and c30 Starling flying around.

Stanford Reservoir; afternoon

The four White-fronted Geese were with the Greylags again, initially in Keepers Bay, then on the adjacent field.  Also, in Keepers were four Red-crested Pochards (2 males) and a good number Pochard.

On the main water were plenty of Shoveler, c80, five Goosanders (all Redheads) and 12 Great Egrets plus Little Egrets.

A Bullfinch pair was spotted on the Leics side near the old feeder area.

 

9th Nov Monday- Fog, clearing slowly, then dull-cloudy and misty/hazy afternoon, light E, 6C

Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.

Four Stonechats around the site (2 m, 2f).

At the island pool - 4 Mutes, 36 Wigeon, 6 Shovelers, a Teal, a drake Pochard and a Lapwing.

I believe this is my first site record for a Pochard.

A Kestrel was hunting and a Roe Deer visible near the bank.

A Green Woodpecker heard, a Pied Wagtail and two Pheasants.

8th Nov Sunday - fog/mist persisted until late afternoon, very light SW, 8C

Bittesby Country Park; morning.

Not too much near the west car park, c40 Lesser Black-backed and c10 Herring Gulls bathing in pool on undeveloped site.

On the adjacent field bird food area there were c15 Yellowhammers, c40 Chaffinches, c25 Linnets, plus Reed Bunting.

Six Skylark flew in to the field and a few Fieldfares and Redwings were around, plus six Starling over.   A Kestrel was present and another flew over  near the Mere Lane with prey.

Willey; late morning.

Five Long-tailed Tits in the Church lane hedge, a few Redwings around, more Blackbirds today, and seven Starlings over. Nuthatch again in the yew trees.

Draycote Water; afternoon.

A Snow Bunting had been seen here for a couple of days and early this morning, but not found this afternoon.

Otherwise, all the regulars,   Nothing else new was in. 

7th Nov Saturday - foggy, then misty all day, very light SW, 8C

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

Four European White -fronted Geese were with the Greylags in the adjacent field by the driveway.

On the back field near the track were feeding Redwings, Fieldfares and Chaffinches c40, plus a flock of Skylarks 50+.

Still high numbers of Little and Great Egrets, plus usual other water birds, including two ‘redhead Goosanders’ and a drake Goldeneye.

Several Fungi now fruiting along the dam, here's a few examples -

Shawell sandpit and landfill area; late afternoon.

Lapwing, 93, on the south pit shore.

Five Red Kites and several Ravens.

Mallards, Teal, Tufted, Gadwall, Shoveler and a single female Pochard.

29 Stock Doves already in the roost trees.

6th Nov Friday - cloudy, dull, mostly near calm, hazy/misty pm with spots of rain, 11C

Willey; morning

A couple of Buzzards and Kestrel over the fields to the east of village.

The Church yard is always a good place for Fungi, like these just fruiting.

Stanford Reservoir; afternoon.

The number of Greylag and Canada Geese currently here seems large, I counted 200 Canada Geese in one field. 

Equally the number of Great and Little Egrets is at our highest numbers, with them spread out all around the reservoir, the low water providing some shore and bountiful fish fry, they are in heaven! (as are the Cormorants)

All the regular ducks, two Goosanders (redheads, probably the regular two) and four Egyptian Geese - which looked like three large juvs and a female, if so they would have hatched relatively late, not early as they usually do.

A few Redwings and c50 Fieldfares, Long-tailed Tit flock and a few Chaffinches feeding.

[Its worth noting that again this little reservoir keeps turning up goodies; yesterday evening at the gull roost Chris found a Great Skua, and this morning Barry reported a small flock of White-fronted Geese, both hot on the heals of the Sabine's Gull - what next?]