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.