Willey
First thing c40 Starlings feeding on the pasture in the Perkins fields area, but only threen Fieldfares and one Redwing.
1110h, a Sparrowhawk dashed to the paddock feed station, it failed to catch.
Lilbourne Meadows, afternoon.
205 Wigeon, plus Teal, Shoveler and Mallard. Two little Grebes. A Grey Heron and c 100 Lapwings.
A few Redwings and Fieldfares around and two Stonechats. A Kestrel hunting.
Bittesby Country Park; morning
Five Stonechats found, a Kestrel hunting, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and Green woodpecker present.
Magna Perk Lake; morning
Two Water Rails seen.
Stanford Hall Lake area; afternoon.
Two Little Egrets, two Little Grebes
Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.
Plenty of wigeon on the pools today, plus Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal. 16 Moorhens
A Little Egret, single female Yellowhammer.
Lubenham;
A male Sparrowhawk flew over the market field this morning
Willey;
1415h a Red Kite low over the east side paddocks.
Willey;
Checked feed station late morning:
A Collared Dove, two Stock Doves, three House Sparrows, 10+ Great Tits, Blue Tits, a female Chaffinch., Robin., female Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Also around or over: Buzzard, Lesser Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed Gulls, c40 Jackdaws, Rooks, a Fieldfare and a few Starlings.
An other truly miserable day of weather.
Shawell Sand Quarry/landfill area; early afternoon.
A look here in in the wind and rain.
Teal numbers up at 82, also 8 Gadwall, 4 Wigeon, 4 Pochard, 5 Shoveler, plus c20 Great Black-backed Gulls, Little Grebes and Mallards.
Storm Darragh started to cross the country last night and continued throughout the day. Very strong winds, NW, 30-40 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph. Also rain most of the day.
Continued very windy through the night, with less rain.
Most unpleasant all day.
Willey; morning
Only had time to check locally today, surprisingly very quiet, I didn't see any winter thrushes. c15 Linnets down the bottom Perkin s fields area in the trees.
t my feed station very little activity, only one House Sparrow, c 10 Great Tits and a few Blue Tits. A female Great Spotted Woodpecker dropped in, probably disturbed by the 3 grey Squirrels I now have stuffing themselves.
A Goldcrest in the church yes, and a Green Woodpecker called nearby.
Willey;
Nice fresh Barn Owl pellets at the barns, so one must still be around, hopefully using the boxes. I will have to put up a camera.
Lilbourne Meadows; morning
Flock of Lapwings, Teal, Wigeon, Shovelers and Gadwalls on the flood pools. Otherwise pretty quiet, but nine Blackbirds were feeding together on the pasture.
Stanford Reservoir; afternoon.
Also, pretty quiet here around the res, with passerines in short supply. A few Long-tailed Tits, a Chiffchaff, c15 Fieldfares and c5 Redwings. A Sparrowhawk was hunting.
Usual waterfowl, but I failed to find a Goldeneye today.
Shawell Sand Quarry and Landfill; morning & later afternoon.
The usual visit had raised expectations after an adult Glaucous Gull was reported in the roost there yesterday - but not be to.
An Egyptian Goose, Gadwall 6, Teal 25, Shoveler 10, a pair of Shelducks.
A single Lapwing, 15 Red Kites, Buzzard, Green Woodpecker.
Shawell Lagoons; afternoon.
48 Lapwings, a Great-crested Grebe, three Cormorants and usual Gulls.
Late afternoon, a Peregrine and Buzzard..
Bittesby Country Park; early afternoon.
Stonechat - 3 pairs. Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting -2, a Woodcock flushed.
c50 Goldfinches feedi g on the Teasels.
An interesting meeting with Magna Park Estates this afternoon about the wildlife on their properties and country park and ideas to enhance and include local wildlife groups.
Just as I was leaving Chris called to say he had found a single Be wicks Swan at Stanford reservoir, so I headed off to see this scarce/rare visitor to our area.
When I got there is was 'paddling' full speed down the reservoir and into the narrows, giving brief side views but distant for decent photo, I managed some record shots. Fortunately it was closer when Chris found it and he got much better photos. It was calling quite a lot and looked very alert, as if looking for some others, maybe a group came in/over and this one became separated from them when they left?
Thankfully a dry day again to allow water levels to drop.
Busy, no obs today. Except a Buzzard seems to be a regular scavenging road-kill along the Coal Pit Lane in the last couple of weeks - risky strategy!
Plenty of standing water everywhere again, with rivers/brooks overflowing.
Shawell sand quarry/landfill area; afternoon
A small break in the weather allowed a look here, at first not much about, but a closer look showed:
91 Mallard on the south pit.
Main pit - 10 teal, 8 Gadwall, Tufted Ducks, Little Grebes, 12 Great Black-backed Gulls, five Mute Swans, four Red Kites, and 58 Coots.
Willey;
No obvious cold weather movements occurring here.
No particular obs today.
Shawell Sand quarry and landfill; afternoon.
A Jay in the wooded area by the house ruins. 18 Red Kites around.
Four Gadwall, two Shoveler, and five Mute Swans. Good number of Gulls, specially Herring Gulls, but I could not find one colour ring despite many showing well on the side bank.
As I do several small waters for WeBs counts I did did visit some today, nothing starting, but always nice to find a Water Rail. At Stanford Hall lake c10 Siskins were feeding in the alder trees with Goldfinches at the river bridge.
Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.
c250 Golden Plover were with Lapwings on the west pool. 27 Shovelers, c50 wigeon and Teal on the east pool. c 200 Starlings were around the meadows.
Shawell Starling Roost.
The roost has been building during the month and is reaching impressive numbers, I'm estimating c8000, but I will kn ow better when I have counted my photos.
