22nd Dec - mostly sunny,light SW, 8C

Willey; a check of my feed station produced Nuthatch, Coal Tit, a Tree Sparrow plus the usual visitors. A Sparrowhawk came by but wasn't hunting.  About 20 Redwing and a few Fieldfare were in the adjacent field, a Raven flew off and c10m Goldfinch were feeding in top of an Ash tree.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here this afternoon, many Gulls around but not that many close in the sandpit area.  The Glaucous Gulls (juv and 2W) have not been seen for several days now, so may have moved on, but 2 records in  December is typical.  January is a good month for them here.

Carl picked out a adult Caspian Gull, likely a female due to its smaller size. The very bright sun made digiscoping tricky.

Also present a couple of Red Kite were present, many Carrion Crows, 9 Shoveler, 2 Teal and a Little Grebe

21st Dec- cloudy, light SW, dull, spots of rain at times, 10C. Rain after 2100h

No Obs.

20th Dec - sunny am, cloudy pm, light SW, 8C

Stanford reservoir; this afternoon 6 Goosanders (2 males) were present, plus the usual winter duck species.  A Great white Egret was searching the edge of the main reed bed, whilst a Little Egret hunted at the inlet, a single Grey Heron flew off.

Few passerines, a mixed flock of common Tits, including about 10 Long-tailed and a Treecreeper.

A Muntjac came out of cover and walked along the path, distantly.

19th Dec - mostly sunny after a wet night, light SW, 7C

Cotesbach Landfill; this afternoon I was hoping for a good Gull watch, however the Falconer was visiting again to disperse the Gulls.  It has little real effect, only to make the Gulls mobile form one area to another.  Today his falcon went off track a bit and brought down and killed a Juv Herring Gull, the falcon was particulaterly pale with few bold markings of a Peregrine and likely of mixed parentage.

A couple of Red Kite were around seemingly ignoring the falcon - why wouldn’t they?

Misterton; I decidedto move on and have a look around the church and lake here, it too was fairly quite. A good number of Blue and Great Tits were foraging in the leaf litter along the lane. A Treecreeper and Great-spotted Woodpecker were present but not a lot else was showing.

18th Dec - rain very early, windy, cloudy, rain again pm and blusterly SW, 7C

No obs.

17th Dec - sunny am, cloudy pm, light SW, 7C

Willey; a Green Woodpecker flew over the fields to the east early.

Sanford reservoir; a look here mid-afternoon. A couple of Great White Egret were present near the hide.  The usual winter duck, Canada and Grey lag Geese. About 40 Fieldfares and a few Redwings were feeding on the berries, a Bullfinch pair, single Goldfinch and Chaffinch.  A Long-tailed Tit flock with Blue and Great Tits, plus 2 Treecreeper.

16th Dec - suny am, clouding over- high, light SW, 8C

Shawell Lagoon; a look here during the morning produced 63 Teal, a Gadwall, 5 Shoveler, at least 8 Cormorants, Grey Heron, Two Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk flew over, a few Redwings and Fieldfare were feeding in the bushes, a Bullfinch was heard and 3 Goldfinch were around.

Brandon Marsh; after lunch a visit here hoping to se the Bittern that has been showing well from the East marsh hide.  There were the usual birds on the eat marsh including the 4 Whooper Swans, these actually flew off mid-afternoon - will they be back?
An adult Yellow legged Gull and Caspian Gull was out with the other Gulls.

While watching the Bittern's favoured reed area 2 Water Rails made frequent appearances.

The Bittern was indeed visible in the reed, but as always it was stationary and you could hardly see it.  After 30 mins or so it did actually moved and enter the cleared channel where fantastic views were had often with a Water Rail nearby - the photos tell the story.