20th December - sunny interval am, cloud and light rain pm, mod SW, 8C

Willey; 1410h two Red Kites flew SW along the Long Spinney.

Shawell Sand Quarry/Landfill; morning.

Plenty of Gulls present, most were active around the landfill area, alas no white-wingers found.

Red Kite 11, Pochard and Gadwall 4, Wigeon 2, plus Mallard, Teal and Tufted.

19th December - Rain through the night until early hourds. Sunny intervals, mod NW, 6C

Willey;

First thing a Barn Owl was out over our paddock, then off towards old railway.  No doubt the one I keep finding pellets for in the barns.

Lilbourne Meadows, morning

Water levels very high and all meadows well flooded again.

On the pools c 300 Wigeon, Shoverlers, Teal, 10 Gadwall and 6 Mute Swans.  A single Little Grebe seen

18th December - strong gusty wings last night, persisting first thing, slowly dying down during then day, SW. Cloud thickening during the day - light rain later afternoon. 13C - mild!

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

Four Goosanders, plenty of Wigeon and Gadwall, also Pochard and Tufted.

Gull numbers good, especially Common Gulls.

Red Kite over.

Very few passerines present.

17th December - cloudy, dull/some drizzle, light/mod SSW, 10C

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.

16th December - sun ny intervals am, cloudy pm, light WSW, 11C

 No Obs today

15th December - broken cloud, light/mod WSW, 12C

Mere Lane Lake; morning

Five Shoveler, two Little Grebe, 13 Tufted Ducks, a few Coot and Moorhens, otherwise quiet.

Soar Brook Lake; morning

Nice to see three Green Sandpipers here, a single Mute and Greylag, eight Cormorants (highest count here I think), 33 Black-headed Gulls washing, a few Lesser Black-backed and a single Herring Gull.

Apart from a few Long-tailed Tits, also quiet here.

14th December - cloudy, mod WNW, 6C

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.

13th December - cloudy, dull, fine drizzle often, 6C, very light W

 No obs today

12th December - cloudy, misty, dull and damp, some light drizzle at times, light ENE, 7C

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

A Mistle thrush was feeding on the dam and two Little Grebes were off-shore.

A Goldcrest with the Long-tailed Tit party.

Plenty of Wigeon in, plus Gadwall, Pochard, Tufted, Mallard, Greylag and Canadas Geese.

A Great White Egret was flushed from the by-pass and a grey heron from the path, the former landed in the arable field and stood there for ages.

All the usual Gulls were present, with over 100 Common Gulls.

11th December - Cloudy, light NNE, 6C

 Lubenham;

A male Sparrowhawk flew over the market field this morning

Willey;

1415h a Red Kite low over the east side paddocks.

10th December - cloudy, light NNE, 6C

 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.

9th Deember - cloudy, light showers am, mod-fresh NNE, up to 30 mph, 6C

 No Obs today

8th December - strong winds, N continue, easing a little very slowly during the day. Cloudy with light rain. 6C

 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.

7th December - Strong winds and rain, 6C

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. 

6th December - high cloud, light WSW, 8C

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.

5th December - morning high cloud, mod WSW 12C, afternoon, cloud lower, increasing wind, rain by 1530h, 14C

Lilbourne Meadows; morning

The maize stubble fields are attracting a small number of Thrushes, Blackbird, Song, Fieldfare and Redwings, also Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.  A couple of Roe Deer were along the tall hedgerow.

Usual ducks on the pools: Mallard, Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler, 38 Lapwing flew in. 

Shawell Sand Quarry; afternoon.

Plenty of Gulls in, no sign of the Glaucous though, two 1W Caspian Gull.

A Buzzard, several Ravens and 26 Red Kites.

Simon heard a Green Sandpiper a couple of days ago, today it was showing on the long narrow island.

Also, a Black-headed Gull with pretty much a full hood still!

4th December - Fog and mist lingered until after mid-day, very light S, dull and cloudy, 8C

117 Feral pigeons being well fed by someone at St. Mary's church Hinckley.

3rd December - cloud clearing to sunny pm, light SSW, 5C

 Busy - no obs today

2nd December - cloudy, drizzle afternoon, light WSW, 9C

Shawell Sand Quarry/Landfill; afternoon.

Excellent number of Gulls in today very large number of Herring Gulls and c250 Great Black-backed Gulls.

I was fortunate to spot the adult Glaucous Gull - mostly floating on the water, not doing an awful lot, before flying up and off back to the landfill area.  

Adults are rare to see in the area, the last one here was January 2020, most are juveniles (see  Birds of Southwest Leicestershire for full listing by Baggott & Baker).

I also found an adult and 1W Caspian Gull.

1st December - light rain, mod S, clearing by afternoon, then sunny periods, light SW, 14C

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.

30th November - mostly cloudy, light SSW, 15C, mild

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.

29th November - sunny, light-mod SSE, 10C

Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.

A good walk here around most of the area was quite productive.

On the adjacent fields, c120 Lapwings and c150 Golden Plovers, plus the usual Gulls  On the eastern field flood pool were Shovelers, Wigeon, 11 Moorhens and 51 Teal.

Redwings, Fieldfares a few Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Starlings and a Reed Bunting on the maize stubble field.

A Kestrel and Buzzard hunting.

On the southern marsh/pools area 5+ Snipe, a Kingfisher, a grey heron and two Little Egrets. A single Roe Deer was spotted.

A particular cloud formation caught my eye too as su8n set approached.

28th November - frost last night -3C. Today sunny, very light SE, 5C

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?

This photo courtesy Chris Hubbard

27th November - rain through the early hours this morning, clearing slowing by mid-day, then sunny spells, mod NW, 5C

No obs today to note.

26th November - sunny, light SW, 8C

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!

25th Nov - sunny periods am, mod SW, cloud increasing pm and wind freshening a little, 9C

Hinckley

A look around the park and St. Mary's area.  Not much around, 12 Mallard and 4 Moorhens on the pool.  12+ Woodpigeons, but Feral pigeons were at least 100!

24th Nov- trong, gusty wind until mid-afternoon, mostly SW, 15C. Rain most of the time, another inch at least.

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.

23rd Nov - The country is being battered by storm Burt today and tomorrow. We have strong gusty wind, SE-SW, with frequently rain, 11C and rising

Willey;

0900h a Red Kite battled against the wind over the village.

1030h a Buzzard was on the ground at the pen-fold.

22nd Nov - cloud and light rain showers clearing to mostly sunny, 6C, light/mod westerly

Willey;, c25 Redwings first thing feeding on top pastures.

Bittesby Country Park; afternoon

A good foray here in the weedy fields to count the Stonechat, I found 4 males and 3 females, brilliant!

Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.

The field flood pools were still 99% frozen, however, there were a few Shovelers, Teal and c70 Wigeon around the edges.

Two Kestrels hunting, a Buzzard in the adjacent field, a Raven over, c40 Starlings

A few lapwings and Golden Plovers were on the corner arable sown field.

21st Nov - last night clear and -3C. Sunny, light NW, 3C

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

Only 3 Pochards seen, two female Goldeneye, drake Goosander. Drake and female Red-crested Pochard.

Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker.  The GSW was ringed, and read from the photo (below) by Adam Homer as LE32771, it was ringed as a juvenile in August this year here.

Kingfisher, Mistle Thrush, a few Redwings and Fieldfares.

0th November - only about -1C last night. Mostly sunny, light WNW, 3C

Willey;

No obvious cold weather movements occurring here.

No particular obs today.

19th November - snow during the night and until about midday, light NW. 4C

Its seems a long time since we have had snow in November, the cover was about 4 cm, but melted away during the afternoon.

Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon

Not many duck around, 13 Shovelers, c 50 Wigeon.and Teal.  A Grey Heron.

Lapwing, c150 came in, possibly flushed from the pastures around the old radio station and c200 Golden Plovers.  These circled for a while gained height and headed off northwards.

A few Redwings, Fieldfares and two Greenfinches.  A Kestrel hunting and a Raven flew on to the lake side.

18th Nov - mostly cloudy, light ESE, 9C, rain late afternoon.

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.

17th Nov - broken cloud am, cloud increasing light rain shower late pm, light WNW, 10C

Mere Lane Lake; morning

The lake held a nix of ducks for the WeBs count today; seven Shoveler, 15 Tufted, a Teal, 14 Mallards, plus Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebes.  A Water Rail responded to call play-back from the adjacent SuDs pool area.

 A Green Woodpecker was calling too.

Soar Brook Lake; morning

Few waterbirds, but a good count of Gulls _B-H,, Herring and LBB) on the lake and adjacent field, two Cormorants, three Mute Swans.

A green Woodpecker too.

Brandon Marsh; afternoon

c275 Lapwings, 6+ Snipe plus the usual ducks, including a lone female Pintail, on East marsh.  Among the flock of Greylags and Canada Geese was a Swan Goose.

Two each Great and Little Egrets.

Very few passerines about!

16th Nov - Broken cloud am, cloud increasing with light rain mid-afternoon, clearing later. Light WSW, 12C

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.

15th Nov - sunny spells morning, cloud increasing, light SW, 10C

Willey

John Moore saw the Barn Owl at 1645h over his paddock, heading towards ours.

Thornton Reservoir; morning

Popped to see the the Long-tailed duck which has been present a couple of days, always good to see this scarce inland duck.

Also, nice to see a Kingfisher dashing about several times.

.Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.

Very quiet everywhere, although the Shepherd had been attending to the Sheep causing some disturbance.  

The two Stonechats were still along the brook.

14th Nov - sunny spells am, cloudier pm, light NNE, 12C

Willey;

A couple of Mistle Thrushes were feeding on the road side field first thing, east of the village.   Often a pair take up territory in this area.

Stanford reservoir, afternoon.

A nice group of Fungi by the car park.

Plenty of Wigeon still at the reservoir, plus Pochard.  Today three Goldeneye (1m, 2f), two Teal and a drake Shoveler.

A single Lesser Redpoll and two Goldfinch were feeding in the orchard area.

13th Nov - Fog clearing to sunny spells, 9C, light NW

Lilbourne Meadows; morning

Fairly quite this morning, until a flock c 200 Golden Plover flew over looked to come down, but did not.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the hedge tree top.

Shawell sand quarry/landfill; afternoon.

Plenty of Gulls in today, vast majority were Herring Gulls, then Lesser Black-Backed.  180+ Great Black-backed Gulls counted.

21 Red Kites and a Buzzard.

12th Nov - mostly high cloud, light NNE, 10C

Bittesby Country Park; afternoon.

Checked out the weed fields for Stonechats, but only found a single male today.

Two Kestrels hunting, a Snipe flushed from a muddy path patch, a Green Woodpecker, a few Meadow Pipits, Redwings and Fieldfares around.

11th Nov - broken cloud, some sunny spells, light NNW, 11CX

Lilbourne Meadow; morning

41 Shovelers, Lapwings, Teal, a Gadwall, Grey Heron. Lapwings.

A female type Merlin dashed over the field low and fast hunting.  A Kestrel hunting too.

On the maize stubble several Redwings, five Yellowhammers, Chaffinches.

A single Skylark over NE.

10th Nov - cloudy, dull, light SSW-WSW, clearing a little pm, 13C

Willey;

c100 Linnets in the bottom Perkins field area in hedge/trees, going down on adjacent recently sown field, also a Reed Bunting, Greenfinch and Yellowhammer.

Lilbourne Meadows; morning

Nothing new today, two Yellowhammers on pasture hedgerow.

Bittesby Country Park; morning

A Red Kite over.

Four Stonechats, possibly two more, in the weedy fields, but two were quite mobile, need to check again.

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

Very similar to the last visit.

Three Shovelers, three Teal, two Little Grebes, two female Goldeneye.

Along the Leics bank were several Goldcrests, a Treecreeper and three groups of Long -tailed Tits.

9th Nov - Blanket cloud, dull, very light NNE, 9C

Willey; a male Sparrowhawk shot over the street by the pen-fold 0845h.

Lilbourne Meadows;  very similar to yesterday except a Dunlin  was feeding among the Lapwings.

Shawell Lagoons; afternoon

Similar to yesterday, except only four Lapwings present.

Stanford reservoir;

A drake Goldeneye, a drake and female Pintail, plus all the usual ducks. Two Little Grebe.

Bullfinch pair.  

8th Nov - blanket cloud, dull, light SE, 10C

Lilbourne Meadows; morning

40 Shoveler, c40m Teal, c25 Wigeon, 111 Lapwings, c80 Golden Plovers flew in, but did not settle.

On the adjacent maize stubble Redwings, Chaffinches, Yellowhammer 2, Greenfinch 2..  Ten Goldfinch on hedge side weeds.

Shawell Lagoons; afternoon.

108 lapwings, two Red Kites, drake Pochard, a Cormorant, plus usual Gulls.

Only the south lagoon now has free water as workings are reduced, the north pool is mostly reed now.

Shawell sandpit/landfill;

The drake Goldeneye is still present on the south pool.  Twenty Wigeon flew around, only two landed. Seven Mute Swans.  Eight Little Grebes.

24 Red Kites.  Green Woodpecker

Lutterworth; late afternoon.

I stopped off here to shop and saw a good flock of Feral Pigeons over the town centre - they are very messy here.  I though about 40, but the photo count says 64! 

7th Nov - cloudy, misty, light drizzle am, very light SE, 12C

Willey;

A Sparrowhawk over at 1150h, and c12 Goldfinches flew into Holly tree 1345h.

6th Nov - Cloudy, dull again, mist and fine drizzle occasionally, very light SW-SE, 13C

Willey;

Checking the Hawfinch area this morning I was fortunate to see one fly atop the hedge, have a look around before flying towards the Yew trees.   Once in the Yews they're impossible to see.

5th Nov - Blanket cloud, mist at times, dull, 11C, very light SE-SW

Noticeable that winter Thrush numbers were much reduced in the area today, presumable they have moved on after feeding.

No other obs today.

4th Nov - blanket cloud (again), very light SE, 13C

Willey;

No sign of Hawfinch today, but still plenty of Redwings and Fieldfares around.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker sat for ages on a small hedgerow bush branch at the top of the bush, not sure why!

Two Greenfinch in the Church Yews with many Great Tits.

3rd Niov - cloudy, dullish, light easterly, 12C

Willey; late morning.

I checked the Church trees and lane area as I do a lot this time of year as it has attracted scarce migrants, and I was not disappointed. After scanning the hedge and noting many more Redwings and Fieldfares around and four Greenfinch sitting in the top I then spotted a chunky finch - a Hawfinch, which flew atop my Holly tree and was joined by another, they then quickly flew off.  All too quick for a photo, but great to see.

Lilbourne Meadows; morning

144 Lapwings and 38 Shoveler were good totals, plus Teal and Wigeon.  The maize stubble field is attracting Redwing, Fieldfare, Chaffinch, Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers. 

Along the brook was a male and female Stonechat, my first of the winter here for me.

Bittesby Country Park; early afternoon.

I could only find one Stonechat, female, here today, but others could be well spread over the fields.

A Cormorant too, which is an occasional visitor.

Shawell lagoons; afternoon.

The surprise here was a Redshank, we don't get many in SW Leics and mostly Spring/early summer, very unusual late to have a Autumn record.