6th Jan - damp and cold

Mostly cloudy, wind NE light-mod, occasional showers, cold 5C

Misterton; a look here this morning produced the usual woodland species including Nuthatch and Treecreeper.

Cotesbach Landfill; Carl told me he had seen a Iceland Gull here midday, a little later I managed to get there.  There was plenty of Gulls feeding on the landfill, but I did not find it, after a while something spooked the Gulls and they all left this area.  There was a red Kite in the area, with Meadow Pipits, Skylark and Pied Wagtails in the vicinity.

When the Gulls aren't feeding many rest in the adjacent quarry area, so I went round there to look, Carl was already there and had found a Caspian Gull.  Searching through the many Gulls here the Iceland was still not found.  A stormy area was moving in fast looking quite unpleasant, so I took a phone photo of the scene and the Gulls before sheltering in the car.

Shawell Lagoons; the next place to check for the Iceland Gull was here, again absent, very few gulls.  Present were 2 Snipe, a Grey Heron, c100 Wigeon and 4 Tufted Duck.

5th Jan - cloudy - dull

More damp cloudy weather with drizzle pm, 5C, light- steady SW

Stanford Reservoir;  I visited here in the afternoon, not the best conditions and therefore fairly quite.  Now the Reservoir is full it is less favoured by Teal, only 7 today.  A single drake Goosander came in late, looked a bit nervous, at least the ‘banging’ has stopped so the birds may settle more.  I counted the GreyLag and Canada flock, 320 and 130 respectively.

I waited for the Gulls to come in to roost, numbers are building again, not scarcity today. A Barn Owl came out, thankfully having survived the recent snowy weather, and was hunting, great watching it in the gloom.

4th Jan - unsetttled

Early band of rain, then mostly cloudy and wind freshening from SW

Willey; first thing to the west about 20 Redwings were feeding on pasture next to the small spinney.  I  checked my feed station late morning, 4 Chaffinch, 4+Yellowhammers, 5 Tree Sparrrows, c15 House Sparrows, Robin, Blue, Great and 2 Coal Tits, a Nuthatch and Great-spotted Woodpecker, female Pheasant and Moorhen, Magpie and Jackdaw.

Rugby; when leaving Rugby about 1615h a small Starling murmuration around Albert Street was spotted, as driving I could not see it well, at least 500 I would questimate.  Does anyone have more information, like where they go to roost?

3rd Jan - Windy

A fairly stormy night with strong W wind and some rain, the wind persisting and then easing during the day. Mostly sunny, dry morning, cloudy pm, 9C.

Unfortunately, again little seen in the available.

Was told today of a Barn Owl sighting near Marston Trussel on New Year’s Eve.  Always good to hear of these birds.

2nd Jan - Wet

Today was a bit of a wash out with rain until mid-afternoon and then misty and dull, about 6C, light SW.  No obs.

Unfortunately there is a low crossing tonight and tomorrow with strong winds and more rain, so not sounding too good either.

1st Jan 2019 - cloudy/light rain am, sunny spells pm, 6C, light SW

Welcome to more of my obs - I hope you find them of interest.  Feel free to comment share any of your obs using the comments option.

Willey; the small flock of Chaffinch and Yellowhammers is still on the stubble fields to the west, a Reed Bunting was with them too.  The local Rooks were busy feeding first thing on the pasture next to their rookery, many also attending to their nests.  A morning check of the feed station produced all the usual visitors, including the Moorhen, 6 Tree Sparrows today. . Late afternoon a Green Woodpecker was heard calling.

Monks Kirby; The Chaffinch flock was present, a little dispersed today, at least 50 though, plus Yellowhammers, Goldfinch and 1 Brambling.

Stanford Reservoir; at the moment there are bird 'scarers' on some adjacent fields causing loud 'bangs' which is definitely causing some disturbance to the birds, probably keeping the numbers down.  I was checking through the Grey Lag Goose flock in case a Pink-Foot had dropped in when I spotted 4 Egyptian Geese, it looked like a family group. As expected at next set of 'bangs' they flew off - 4 were later reported flying over Draycote Water, the time would have been right for it to have been these birds after leaving here.

Otherwise a pleasant afternoon with the usual birds seen.  I counted thre Coot which have now increased to 185.

31 Dec - mostly cloudy, moderate SW, 9C

Shawell Lagoons; I had a look here this morning, not expecting many Gulls as the landfill is closed today.  A couple of Snipe, a Great crested Grebe, 47 Wigeon, 1 Teal, 4 Tufted Duck, Grey Heron and 4 Cormorant were present. Also, the highlight was a Kingfisher that flashed past in to the reed bed.  On the shore one of the many Carrion Crows was searching for food.  A small number of Gulls did drop in, including the Common Gull below.

Newton Lane; on the corner field there were 37 Pied Wagtails and a Mistle Thrush feeding.  In the alders by Triponium were c22 Goldfinch feeding.

Monks Kirby; after lunch I checked the Finch flock here, today there was ~ 60 Chaffinch, 2 Brambling and a few Goldfinch.  A single Raven flew over calling and a female Kestrel was near the sewage works on a post.  ~20 Redwing and ~10 Fieldfare were also feeding on the winter wheat field.  A single Great-spotted Woodpecker flew over.

HAPPY NEW YEAR