Willow and I ventured into the snowscape today with a light snowfall . It was beutiful with the snow and ice and it did not feel that cold .It was however hard going on the bird front ,but an estimated 30 plus Blackbird and 10 plus Song Thrush along with 20 plus each of Redwing and Fieldfare showed that it is hard for the birds at the moment .
This can be seen by just how busy the feeders are at the moment, with all the common expected birds around in numbers.
On the patch 2 Kestrel were hunting the fields and hedges and a flock of 7 Skylark were feeding in the snow covered stubble. 2 Buzzard were sitting out the snow storm in an oak tree but were mobbed by a flock of 13 Magpie.
Around the fields 14 Lapwings were scattered about and 3 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails were flitting about .There were only about 250 plus Starling today the rest having moved on The only odd thing today was a Greater Spotted Woodpecker which was drumming away as if it were a spring day, except it was in the middle of a snow storm .
A lone Stock Dove over and a few Common Gulls drifting over the fields looking for a morsel were all that was about, lets hope for better things in the near future.

The promised snow and cold weather arrived yesterday but the only cold weather refugees were a flock of 120 plus Lapwing heading down river.Anyhow Willow and I and  ventured into the snow this afternoon (only 1 inch) , and there were just a few notable sightings . A flock of 9 Lapwing on pasture with 15 Fieldfare. 2 Buzzard called to each other and there was a single Meadow Pipit .The best sighting was a flock of 23 plus Skylark flying low over the snow fields.
 The feeders were busy with 2 Lesser Redpoll ,although one bird was much more buff /frosty coloured with 2 wing bars and what looked like a thinner beak, could it be a Mealy Redpoll ? I do not claim to know enough about the populations of Redpoll, so I will ask some advice ,I will keep you posted.

Winter arrived today with a harsh frost , and forcasted snow as from FridayTh e feeders were busy as you would expect lots of common species as well as Lesser Redpoll, Coal Tit and our first ever Nutatch.
The patch showed a few hard weather migrants with 55 plus Redwing, 25 plus Fieldfare on pasture ,also lots of Blackbirds and Song Thrush in the hedges. The usual Kestrel weas about and a Buzzard flew across being chased by the local Corvids.
Only 9 Lapwings headed downriver but that was made up for by a cracking flock of 54 Golden Plover heading over.There were 550 plus Starling and 3 Meadow Pipit with 2 Pied Wagtails. A good sight was of 20 plus Skylark in a flock .
Another species was added last night with a Tawny Owl calling at 7pm.
 The patch list now stands at 51

The artic blast arrived today with 6 degrees and rain, what a bunch of tits the weather forcasters are ! My boys were devastated as they were expecting a snow day .As for the patch, that was just awful today, with only 2 Lesser Redpoll on the feeders providing any quality.
The rest of the birds were a Bullfinch ,6 Meadow Pipits, 5 Pied Wagtails ,2/3 Mistle Thrush, 4 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing , Buzzard and 2 Kestrel ,male and female which have been wintering here . That was about as good as it got today, oh well things can only improve from here.
The patch list remains on 49

Well today dawned after overnight rain in a very cold manner with a raw easterly wind The Lesser Redpoll was still on the feeders amongst a whole throng of the usual suspects . The weather had an  effect on the local birds with some making themselves scarce and others reappearing .
There was still a good numbers of Gulls on the now disappearing floodwaters, with 200 plus Black Headed Gulls and a few Lesser Black Backed , Common and Herring Gulls for good measure.
A small flock of 3 Pied Wagtails were feeding nearby and 2 Buzzards were calling to each other. A good count of 8 Stock Dove were about.
It is nice to report that winter Thrush"s were back with 27 plus Fieldfare and 100 plus Redwing .
A flock of 115 plus Lapwing flew over low heading south west .
The patch count remain the same.

The cold weather has not arrived as forcast, but it supposed to arrive over the weekend ,so it should provide a few new birds if there is any cold weather movement. The big thing at the moment is the amount of birdsong and the complete absence of winter thrush"s, they were really pentiful not but two weeks ago, they must of moved on having used all local food supplies.
Anyhow the garden came up with a Lesser Redpoll on the feeders again ( yesterday there were 2 along with a Coal Tit but no sign of the latter today), and plenty of the usual suspects.
 The patch is still generally quiet , but there was a flock of at least 2700 Starling and 575 plus Lesser Black Backed Gulls with Common(10 plus), Black Headed (50 plus) and Herring Gulls (20 plus) on the wet pasture.There was a flock of 11 Meadow Pipits with a flock of 17 plus Skylark nearby.
A year tick came in the form of a female Yellowhammer ,not such a common bird on the patch.The rest of the hightlights were Greater Spotted Woodpecker, male Kestrel, Buzzard, just 4 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare and a very grey continental Song Thrush, no doubt he or she has flown over here from northern climes .
The patch count now stands at 49.

The first bird  I heard this morning was a Little Owl calling at 4am ,just as I was getting up for work, I suppose it"s one of the benefits of the job.The Coal Tit and a Lesser Redpoll came to the niger feeder again, considering I had not recorded Lesserc Redpoll on the patch till this year I seem to have seen quite a few this year,although I suspect that all the records relate to the three birds I found at the back end of the year. I also have a niger feeder this year so that may be the difference ,as they say in Waynes World ""If you build they will come"".
A flock of Long Tailed Tits were buzzing around in the garden as well ,so when I left the house I was sure it would be a productive walk, just shows you how wrong you can be.The major numbers were 800 plus Starling and at least 1000 plus Assorted Gulls ,Black Headed ,Lesser Black Backed ,Common and a few Herring Gulls on the now receding floodwaters.Its easy to forget that many of these Gulls would of come from the Baltic and Northern Europe . A small flock of 3 Pied Wagtails had 2 Meadow Pipits tagging along. The rest of the list was made up of Kestrel, Buzzard ,Green Woodpecker and a single Redwing.