The last couple of  days have almost been springlike even though we have had heavy frosts ,but we are still to see any spring migrants on the patch even though they are beginning to be seen around and about.
The Brambling has still been in the garden but the Redpolls seem to have gone north .Raptors seen have been the wintering Kestrel which has reappeared , a fine female Sparrowhawk and the local Buzzards which finally got a chance to spread there wings with the fine weather.
Winter Thrush"s are declining in number with a max of 35 plus Fieldfare and 20 plus Redwing and a Mistle Thrush which is still hanging on. There are at least 5 singing Skylark at the moment , so lets hope they can find somewhere to breed. It was nice to see 2 Goldcrest flycatching from some conifers .
There are only about 220 plus Starling left the rest having moved on .
 The best of the rest were  2 Red Legged Partridge, 5 Stock Dove, Cormarant downriver, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a party of 35 summerplumaged Black  Headed Gulls which moved northwards , 1 Brown Hare was also seen .

Having spent the week working in Holland (did manage some token birding at an inland polder with at least 10,000 Wigeon, Coot, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe , Greylag Geeese in one large flock ), it was great to see what was going on the patch on Saturday morning. The weather was   quite cold and it was fairly obvious that although the first summer migrants have already been seen we were still in the grip of winter as far as the local birdlife was concerned .That been said there were a few signs of spring around with Pied Watail over north the first flock of 7 Meadow  Pipits  for awhile. Skylarks were about with 12 seen and some have started to sing . There were still 50 plus Redwing and 30 plus Fieldfare around .
There was also a large flock of 50 plus Black Headed Gull, 50 plus Lesser Black Backed Gull and 10 plus Herring Gull on sheep pasture these had the fear of god put int them when a superb Peregrine Falcon passed over heading east This is our 61st species of the year a great way to break the 60 barrier.
The best of the rest were Buzzard Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush and 10 Stock Dove.
 The patch list now stands at 61.
 Sunday had a north east wind and was very cold, however 4 Lesser Redpoll and a Brambling were on the feeders.
 On the patch 9 skylark were present  a Pied wagtail over north as was a Meadow Pipit. A massive 1100 plus Common Gull with 500 plus Black Headed Gull and 40 plus Lesser Black Backed Gull were on sheep Pasture
There were 50 plus Redwing with 145 plus Fieldfare and a nice flock of 30 plus  Goldfinch with 10 plus Greenfinch..
 A year tick for the patch in the form of a Cormorant flying upriver was nice.
 The best of the rest were Red Legged Partridge, Stock Dove.
The patch list is now 62

The first of March saw me only able to get out for a short while and only cover a small part of the patch, however a massive flock of 3500 plus Starling heading to roost was a great sight. Also tagging along were 15 each of Fieldfare and Redwing.
The 2nd of March felt like the first day of spring with 3 singing Skylark and another passing over.63 plus Fieldfare along with 156 plus Redwing were feeding in the horse paddocks and nearby were 750 plus Starling feeding on pasture.Stock Doves still numbered 10 and the invasion of Magpies continues with 13 been seen.
There was a small mixed flock of Finches in one of the hedgerows with at least 12 Goldfinch and 2 Lesser Redpoll with Greenfinch and Chaffinch. There was also the usual Kestrel.
A Lesser Redpoll was also on the feeders this morning .

This post covers 27th and 28th where the weather has been almost springlike.Most of the usual cast has been around with a few more Reding 112 plus and 35 plus and Fieldfare 4 and 50 plus.Also a Mistle Thrush has been around. Starling have numbered 1000 plus and 200 plus. A flock of 6 Magpie have hanging around and the wintering Kestrel and between 2 and 4 Buzzard have been hunting the area. The max number of Stock Dove have been 15 plus. A year tick has been found in the form of a pair of Goldcrest. A nice way to get into the sixties . A pair of Lesser Redpoll have been still using the feeders.
The patch total is now 60

Sunday dawned cold and windy  and few birds around, the hightlite being 2 Golden Plover which flew north.The Stock Dove invasion continues with 25 plus . The wintering Kestrel is still on station and a couple Buzzard were soaring about. An odd thing was a flock of 9 Magpie .
The best of the rest 100 plus Starling, 5 Fieldfare, Greater Spotted Woodpecker.
Today was milder and less windy, The Starling flock had increased to 400plus and Stock Doves to a massive 40 plus. There were more Redwings with 59 feeding on damp pasture ,but just 1 Fieldfare.1 Skylark passed over and the Kestrel was scanning her winter home from on high . Roll on the spring 

A last something to write about, the patch came up with the goods with a cracking Red Kite which drifted southwards at 10.15am , an annual visitor in usually May so a bit earlier than normal .
On the feeders 2 Coal Tit and 5 Lesser Redpoll were today joined by a male Reed Bunting. On the  patch 18 plus Stock Dove were seen , we seem to be having a little bit of an influx at the moment..
Winter Thrush"s were about with 38 plus Redwing and just 8 Fieldfare. A flock of 140 plus Lapwing moved downriver. A few more Meadow Pipit were about with 15 plus , a sign of a few early spring migrants.
There were good numbers of Rook (55 plus), and Jackdaw (80 plus ), feeding on the manured fields ,
The best of the rest were Pied Wagtail, 2 Buzzard and a flock of 7 Magpie and a drumming Greater Spotted Woodpecker.
The patch list now moves to 59

Any thoughts of spring have fanished as winter is back with a biting cold wind, the benefit is that it has dried alot of the standing water away and for the first time in months it is dry under foot, even the river meadows have drained.
The bird life is stuck in the winter doldrums  although today I managed to find one year tick for the patch in the form of  a flyover Grey Heron which was being mobbed by the local corvids.
On the feeders there were 5 Lesser Redpoll and a Coal Tit and a flock of 25 Chaffinch .On the patch there was a flock 500 plus Lapwing which was a fine sight, with small numbers of Fieldfare (10), Redwing (10), and 100 plus Starling.
 There appears to be an influx of Stock Dove with 13 been seen today, and the first Linnets were seen for quite awhile with a small flock of 4 heading north.
A Raven was feeding with good numbers of Jackdaws and Rooks on the recently spread fields (now all the fields are covered in cow shite.
The usual Raptors were present with the wintering Kestrel still in situ and there were 3 Buzzards dotted about.
  A Greater Spotted Woodpecker put in a brief appearence.
The patch list now stands at 58