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

What another update!

As the end of the year approaches , I am desperate to try and add another species to the patch list .So I was out on Saturday to try and do just that. First bird up was a Green Woodpecker so a good start .A small flock of 5 Meadow Pipits around the cattle bough was nice and the Skylark flock numbered 33 plus .There were also 3 Red Legged Partridge in the vicinity.
Overhead 2 Buzzards and 3 Raven passed over as did a Cormorant heading downriver. The floodwaters held small numbers of Black Headed ,Herring, and Common Gulls. 3Stock dove were in the usual place and a fine male Bullfinch in one of the hedgerows was a nice find.
It was winter thrushes which gave the numbers with 80 plus Fieldfare and 40 plus Redwing on pasture and it was great to see a flock of 70 plus Lapwings pass over towards Ashleworth ham .
Sunday dawned very cold with a sharp frost and there did not seem as many birds around.
The 3 Raven are still around the area as were the Meadow Pipits but today only 3 seen. I heard the Green Woodpecker but did not see it today
The Skylarks were down to 24 today maybe the frost having moved a few on. Stock Doves were 5 .
The old Orchard held at least 120 plus Redwing along with 60 plus Fieldfare. The best sight however was a herd of 9Mute Swans flying over the floods into the sunrise ,just stunning !

A unexpected visitor.

A quick update ,after a very quiet but wet and very windy walk an unexpected visitor made a flyover visit to the patch in the form of a Greater Black Backed Gull  and yes it takes us to 85 species so far for the year  .Aside from that there was very little to write about with just 3 Skylark and 5 Meadow Pipit s seen .
Winter Thrushes were represented today by 45 plus Redwing and 65 plus Fieldfare also tagging along were 100 plus Starlings.
Apart from a hunting Kestrel there was very little of interest with most of the resident birds keeping their heads down in the blasting winds.

A Christmas update

Sorry for the lack of updates ,but it has a been a busy run up to the Christmas period. The harshest winter and the 100 days of snow are no where to be seen in fact it has been very mild and now very very wet ,with heavy rain ,gales etc so the area is once again under water.
As far as the birdlife things have settled down with most birds been seen being winterers. On the feeders we were graced by a pair of Blackcaps for a day (male, female), and all the usual suspects have been seen although still no Coal Tits and only one day with Redpolls and no still no Bramblings. There is still time though .
On the patch on Christmas day Willow and I were out early and saw 100 plus each of Redwing and Fieldfare on pasture. a group of Meadow Pipits 15 plus are wintering and we have a good flock of 38 plus Skylark were around on rough pasture.
Around the cattle feeders were 4 Pied Wagtail and 3 Red Legged Partridge .A Mistle Thrush and 2 Ravens passed over .2 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were of interest.
Boxing Day morning was cold and clear ahead of another storm which is due, on the pasture land were 40  plus Skylark, 26 plus Meadow Pipits 4 Stock Dove and 3 Snipe feeding in a wet stubble field.
A Reed Bunting continues to winter here and there were 50 plus Black Headed Gulls on floodwater. A by now regular Raven passed over and 2 Buzzards ran the usual attacks by the local corvids.
Thrushes were represented by 58 plus Fieldfare ,20 plus Redwing and 8/9 Song Thrush including a flock of 7 .

Long overdue update.

It has been a few weeks since I updated the blog , to be honest I have been still walking the patch but there have been no birds of any consequence to write about.  So today I decided to make a big effort and try and find something worth writing about ,I failed ,this winter has been a huge disappointment so far , but then again it has been so mild far from the one predicted .
A good bird was a Chiffchaff in one of the hedgerows, the first for quite a while and a bird that is wintering with us.
 Thrush"s were a Mistle Thrush, 17 plus Fieldfare, 47 plus Redwing  and a dozen or so Blackbirds.
On the fields were 9 plus Skylark and a good 27 plus Meadow Pipits  , 3 Pied Wagtails and just 3 Stock Doves. It was odd to see a flock of 8 Magpies in the hedges. A Greater Spotted Woodpecker flew over . Raptors were a Buzzard which was worming and a hunting male Kestrel.
The year is limping to the end can we add one more species to the patch list for 2013 ? lets hope so but it would appear as likely as England winning the Ashes , but lets see .

The week that was

Autumn migration seems to have finished now so all we are awaiting are any movements brought on by colder weather etc. The few times I managed to walk on the patch resulted in the usual birds being seen in small numbers. The feeders in the garden are certainly quieter than this time last year. The highlight of the week was a calling Little Owl on Thursday afternoon at 4.15pm . it is a long time since I have heard or seen any of the above on the patch.
Saturday dawned cold and clear with a slight frost. The most obvious birds were Starling with at least 750 plus on the patch , they were feeding on pasture or in the old orchard . Fieldfares were evident with 75 plus along with 40 plus Redwing .
Meadow Pipits numbered 13 ,most were feeding around the cow feeding boughs, the boughs also attracted 2 male Reed Buntings ,but there may have actually been 3 as I saw another bird in the vicinity.
 Skylarks were on the stubble field with 15 plus over and around  and a lone Lapwing was feeding nearby.
The best of the rest were 2 Buzzard, Green Woodpecker, 2 Pied Wagtail and a Mistle Thrush .
 Sunday was a quiet cold grey day with the same birds around but in much lesser numbers , for example 50 plus each of Fieldfare and Redwing .The most outstanding feature of Sunday was the number of Blackbirds in all the hedges with at least 20 plus been seen and to be honest if I had counted them the number would be more substantial , there must of been an arrival overnight of continental birds to the area .
 It is very quiet at the moment so lets hope for some proper winter weather to bring us some birds .