Friday ,Saturday update.

After work on Friday it was onto the patch with Willow ,still mild ,very wet underfoot , with rain in the offing .First bird was a male Sparrowhawk  that zipped over the hedge line ,nice start ! sadly it went down hill from there .
On the pastures were 400 plus Starling with just 15 plus Fieldfare , and a paltry 5 Skylark , Meadow Pipits numbered just 8 ,where have they all gone ?
Overhead the by now regular winter pair of Ravens passed over and a 2 Stock Doves zipped through.
On the floodwaters 100 plus Black Headed Gulls were feeding along with the odd Common, Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gulls.
The best of the rest were 2 Mistle Thrush and a flock of 100 plus Jackdaws.
Saturday  was going to be better right ? well it was but only just.
Redwings bounced back with 100 plus, Fieldfares 50 plus with 300 plus Starlings for company all feeding on a soaked beet field.
Maybe the first sign of the turning of the year was a flock of 25 plus Linnet that has appeared recently.
On the usual field Skylarks numbered  12 but only 2 Meadow Pipits today , both these species have declined in numbers over the last week or so .
Best of the rest were 2 Raven, Pied Wagtail ,3 Stock Dove 100 plus Black Headed Gulls and a Brown Hare .
The weather forecast talks of east winds and the weather getting colder, is winter finally arriving ? There are a number of species that were regular in the garden last winter that are yet to show hence we are behind on the number of species that have been recorded against this time last year.

An overdue update

The truth is during the week there was not a lot to talk about ,apart from a female Kestrel that hunted on the patch and good numbers of Redwing ,Fieldfare and Starlings that fed on pastureland.
So Saturday Willow and I were eager to see if things had got any better. Redwings were still in number with around 80 plus (it has been a good winter for these), but much smaller numbers of Fieldfares than of late.
3 Raven passed over the patch and just under the hundred Black Headed Gulls floated over the floodwaters.
As the walk progressed I felt as if a slight wiff of spring was in the air and this was confirmed with the sight of a flock of 12 Linnets, the first for a few weeks .Maybe these are the first birds moving back to their summer haunts.
On a very wet field there were 15 plus Meadow Pipits and a influx of 22 plus Pied Wagtails are these also early spring migrants ?
Just 2 Skylarks today in the usual place and 2 Mistle Thrush were seen. The /a Yellowhammer was heard again in the same spot as the other day.
A good number of Starlings are still in the vicinity with at least 450 plus on pasture. There were also 6 plus Stock Dove .
Sunday Morning was fantastic after overnight rain. It felt really spring like almost like a April morning. The usual Redwings had reduced in numbers with 38 plus and with them around 20 plus Fieldfare .The winter visiting Starlings were on the wet pasture with 300 plus or so , they like the winter Thrushes will soon be heading northwards  unless winter really does arrive  .
The spring like theme was evident with 13 Skylark one of which was in full song and at least 15 Pied Wagtails  passed over or were feeding in the area.
The best sight however were the Meadow Pipits which numbered at least 90 plus this morning ,these birds must be now starting to move north as this is the largest count since last October .
A more unsual sight was a flock of 14 Magpie together.
The best of the rest were 2 Buzzard, 3 Stock Dove, and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker .
The species count remains the same at the moment

Northern Visitors

No the relatives have not arrived from Cumbria ! The garden was graced by 2 Lesser Redpolls on the feeders today the first birds since the back end of the year a year tick for the patch and always great birds to see .
We added 6 new species today with the above, Red Legged Partridge ( 5 today), a flyover Linnet (the first for a number of weeks ), Sparrowhawk, Cormorant  over, Canada Geese on the floods.
On the patch itself there were more normal numbers of Redwing with 100 plus and Fieldfare with 110 plus seen the rest having moved on.
Only 4 Skylark today but I did not walk through their favoured field so there are probably more around.
2 Bullfinch in the hedgerows were nice ,and there were 6 Stock Dove about. The only other raptors were 2 low flying Buzzards .
 The best of the rest were Green Woodpecker, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a single Mistle Thrush.
 The patch list now stands at 47 , not bad for the 12th of January   

Sunny Saturday

A fantastic morning, a slight frost ,clear blue skies ,slight breeze, get out on the patch my son and that is what Willow and I did.
So first of all the most obvious birds were Fieldfare with 200 plus and Redwing with a whooping 500 plus feeding on the damp pasture and hedgerows ,a couple of Mistle Thrush and a sprinkling of Song Thrushes were also about. There was also 300 plus Starling keeping them company.
Overall it was pretty quiet but we did bump up the species number by 3 with a fine male Yellowhammer ,an unseen Moorhen calling from a pond and a couple of Long Tailed Tits on the feeders.
Raptors were represented by 3 Buzzards getting the most out of the conditions . Stock doves were about with 7 seen today and the Skylark flock numbered 25 plus. There was just a single Meadow Pipit today.
I have also noticed over the last couple of days some very high flying flocks of Woodpigeons heading north and East are they already moving north ? ,they look as if they are but it would seem a little early yet .That been said there is certainly more bird song than of late with Dunnock, Song Thrush, Great Tit ,Stock Dove all chipping in
The species count now stands at 41.

A midweek update

Midweek on the patch and the usual time restraints meant only brief visits, but still a few highlights. Firstly was a fine sighting of a Fox strolling across a flooded field ,great to see !
Winter Thrushes both Fieldfare and Redwing were present in good number with peak counts of 70 plus Redwing and 138 plus Fieldfare there were also a couple of Mistle Thrush thrown in for good measure.
The Skylark flock seems to be thinning out with a peak of 14 and Meadow Pipits are steady still at 14 birds .It is nice to report that we achieved a count of 4 Raven on Friday not just the usual 1 or 2.
A Peregrine Falcon stormed across the patch no doubt on its way to Ashleworth  causing panic as it did so.
Black Headed Gulls were still evident over the floods with 120 plus on Friday, with them were small numbers of Lesser Black Backed, Common and Herring Gulls .
There were  small numbers of Stock Dove present and we pushed the species count up by one with a Greater Spotted Woodpecker ,a bit overdue if you do not mind me saying so.
That now brings us up to 38

I cannot count

Tuesday afternoon found Willow and I out on the patch and we added 2 new species for the year in the form of 2 Bullfinch and a Green Woodpecker .
Overall the area was dominated by Scandanavian Thrushes with 150 plus Redwing and 100 plus Fieldfare and keeping them company 300 plus Starling all feeding on pasture and in the hedgerows.
A couple of Buzzards and a female Kestrel flew the raptor flag and a Raven passed over. On the rough pasture 14 Meadow Pipits were seen and a flock of 14 Skylark were feeding .A Mistle Thrush passed over
So the scores on the doors for the patch is actually now 37 species so far for 2014 not as I reported the other day . 

A wet weekend

So the first weekend of January 2014 was wet with gales on the Saturday morning and as usual the species list ticks along at a good rate as I log all the usual species I usually see on my walks but do not usually mention .We added Magpie
                                                   Herring Gull
                                                   Mistle Thrush
                                                   Song Thrush
                                                   Green finch
                                                   Buzzard
                                                   Collared Dove
                                                   House Sparrow
Apart from that it was hard going but a flock of 225 plus Black Headed Gulls on the ever expanding floodwater was nice. On the pastures were 200 plus Starling , 100 plus Redwing, just 10 plus Fieldfare and a nice flock of wintering Skylarks with 28 been seen .
Sunday was a different kettle of fish , bright ,clear and a rare frost. We added a number of species to our year list with Raven
                            Wigeon with a flock of 55 plus over floodwater
                            Mute Swan with 4 flying towards the floods
                            Stock Dove .
The Raven was the first bird of the day so not a bad start, up to 4 Buzzard were around in the calmer conditions .
The 4 Mute Swans flew towards the floodwaters and a distant flock of 55 plus Wigeon  flew downriver . On the edge of the floodwater were 340 plus Black Headed Gulls were feeding ,a few Common Gulls and Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gulls were mixed in .
On the fields and in the hedges were a large flock of 360 plus Redwing , 45 plus Fieldfare and 200 plus Starling .
The first Stock Doves of the year were seen with 8 being present and the wintering flock of Skylark numbered 23 today. It was just a single Meadow Pipit that put in an appearance today and we seem to have lost our Reed Bunting .
So just 5 days into 2014 and we are already on 39 species and there are plenty of regulars that we have not seen yet.

Off to a good start

So three days into January and we are off to  fine start for the patch list for 2014.The weather has been very wet ,windy and generally crap. Friday was the first proper walk on the patch and resulted in 24 species being seen .Major highlights were a superb female Peregrine Falcon that put the frighteners on the winter Thrushes ,a flock of 70 plus Lapwing and 425 plus Black Headed Gulls on floodwater .
Redwing numbered 150 plus and Fieldfare a healthy 60 plus .Just 5 Meadow Pipits and a single Skylark today .
So the birds seen today were 1.Blue Tit
                                                2. Robin
                                                3.Dunnock
                                                4.Starling
                                                5. Crow
                                                6. Chaffinch
                                                7.Black Bird
                                                 8.Skylark
                                                 9.Jackdaw
                                                 10.Pied Wagtail
                                                  11.Redwing
                                                 12.Wood Pigeon
                                                  13. Fieldfare
                                                  14. Meadow Pipit
                                                   15. Goldfinch
                                                   16.Great Tit
                                                   17. Kestrel
                                                   18. Rook
                                                   19. Lesser Black Backed Gull
                                                   20. Common Gull
                                                   21. Mallard
                                                   22. Peregrine Falcon
                                                   23. Wren.
                                                   24. Pheasant  
Many of these birds are almost always seen but as we build up the number of species for the year I will not mention them. I plan to be out early tomorrow to add to the 2014 list.     

At the end of the year.

The last walk of 2013 was a quiet affair, mild ,breezy with a gusty southerly wind. The birds were few and far between with the only major hightlights being a flock of 225 plus Redwing and a flock of 41 Lapwing heading down river .The supporting cast of 10 Skylark, 1 Meadow Pipit and 1 Mistle Thrush was all that was on offer .

So that was 2013 my first year of keeping a record of the species seen on my little patch of no where .In the the 12 years I have lived here I have recorded 95 species so  the number of 85 species is not a bad return in  a year .Will we break the record this year ? Lets hope.
New Years day dawned with driving rain and Gales so I managed to find only 9 Species on my first walk of 2014. The first bird of 2014 was a flock of 250 plus Starling