26th and 28th update.

As the old year spills quickly away there seems little hope that we will add one more species total of 87 for the year. But being the optimist I was out with Willow on Boxing day morning to see what was about. Of course I was not feeling on top form as I was in the process of attaining an infection under a cracked wisdom tooth , not much seasonal cheer in that department .
There were still good numbers of Blackbirds around with a massive 29 plus seen today .The other winter Thrushes still were over the patch with 31plus Fieldfare and 90 plus Redwing feeding on the hedgerows or on pasture. Just a single Mistle Thrush but still at least 7 Song Thrush also. There were also 2 Bullfinch around we seem to be enjoying a good run of these at the moment .
 In the top fields there were still good numbers of birds with a mobile flock of at least 30 plus Meadow Pipits along with at least 8 Pied Wagtails mixed in with them .
In the same vicinity were at least 14 plus Skylark and a good count of 16 Stock Dove ,the latter being a good count for this time of year.
The by now usual 2 Red Legged Partridge headed for the hills as we appeared . The other bird of note was a flock of at least 250 plus Starling feeding in the same fields , good to see some in numbers after a poor Autumn for them on the patch .
On the raptor front we managed a single Buzzard, a male Kestrel perched over a ploughed field and a female Sparrow Hawk which made a failed attempt at a Skylark .
The pastures are attracting a few passing Gulls and a small flock of Lesser Black Backed, Herring, Common, and Black Headed Gulls were feeding amongst the cattle.
The best of the rest today were a Green Woodpecker and a calling Jay.
The 28th dawned very cold after a hard frost ,the first of the winter too really bite. It was a clear blue sky that greeted Willow and I this morning and I had to wrap a scarf over my swollen cheek/ mouth to keep out the cold as I was in great pain with this flaming infection, I am beginning to wonder  when the drugs will kick in ,it cannot come soon enough believe me !
 The frost was heavy on the ground and the patch still held good numbers of winter Thrush with 77 plus Redwing, 48 plus Fieldfare, 4 Mistle Thrush, 20 plus Blackbird and at least 5 Song Thrush .
On the top fields there were still 14 plus Meadow Pipits, 4 Pied Wagtails and just 4 Skylark, all reduced in numbers perhaps there have been moved on by the cold snap. One bird has increased however with over 350 plus Starling feeding on the nearby pastures.
The gull flock today included 10 Lesser Black Backed Gulls, 1 Common Gull, 4 Herring Gull and 10 Black Headed Gull .
 On the raptor front just a couple Buzzard today was all we could muster.
An over flying Mute Swan was nice to see ( not something we see that often so worthy of a mention).
The best of the rest today were a Green Woodpecker ,a fly over Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Bullfinch, and 3 Stock Dove.
 However the best sighting by a country mile was a fine Fox that looked a picture of health as it trotted over the frost whitened fields, just superb and a large middle finger to local Fox hunt .  Lets hope they all got really wet and cold yesterday .
Out tomorrow to see whats about so expect another update.

23rd /24th update , A Christmas Cracker

With the Holidays about to start, it was the right thing to do and get out on that patch. It was mild, and windy with some rather unpleasant sheets of drizzle passing over. The patch has been quiet of late but today it perked up with some good numbers of the  winter visitors we see around at this time of year.
The main birds once again on the patch were the winter Thrush s with a good count of 280 plus Fieldfare along with 70 plus Redwing and another good number of Blackbirds with at least 25 plus been seen .There were also 3 Mistle Thrush and at least 7 Song Thrush.
In the tops fields there were at least 25 plus Meadow Pipits and a healthy 20 plus Pied wagtails feeding on a stubble field. It was good to see a small flock of 15 plus Chaffinch. In the field margins 3 Red Legged Partridges lurked. .There were a suprising number of Stock Doves about with 30 plus today far more than usual  .Skylarks chipped in with 15 plus today.
There are not as many Starlings this winter so a count of 150 plus was nice to see.
The hedges are quiet at this time of year ,and I found a good count of 4 Bullfinch today . Robins are back to the normal numbers. I am going to just mention a nice small flock of 6 Common Gull on pasture ,great birds which are often over looked .They are very demure birds ,a real northern bird and nice to see down here in the winter.
Overhead a Raven passed eastwards and a Green Woodpecker called .
Christmas dawned colder , so just a tad more seasonal .The first birds I saw were 2 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers which flew low over to the south .
As I walked the magic hedgerow a small bird came into view and it was nice to be able to report a cracking little Goldcrest , a great little bird to see on the patch at this time of year. The first Linnets were seen for awhile  with a couple in the hedges.
Winter Thrush s were still around but in much smaller numbers than yesterday. All  I could manage were 15 plus Fieldfare, 12 plus Redwing ,4 Mistle Thrush and still a healthy 16 plus Blackbirds .There were at least 7 Song Thrush present.
In the hedges today of note were 8 Long Tailed Tits and a female Bullfinch .
On the pastures today were 20 plus Meadow Pipits , along with 12 plus Skylark and just 6 Pied Wagtails .A couple of Red Legged Partridges hot footed over the fields when they saw me coming towards them .
The best of the rest were a Buzzard, 2 Green Woodpecker ,a Jay and just 6 Stock Dove today .
Any way thanks for reading this drivel and as we enter the last week lets hope for a Christmas Big one .

overdue update

Sorry its been a bit quiet on the blog front but the Christmas rush has made visits to the patch not as regular as they should have been .
The patch has slipped into the winter doldrums and there have been very few high lights apart from Tawny Owls which have been vocal and on Thursday a Little Owl which called several times .
 So Willow and I ventured onto the patch in the hope that maybe Santa may deliver something cracking into my Christmas Stocking as you who read this drivel know I have been or at least tried to have been a good boy this year. He did not deliver and the bird life was what I would of expected to have found at this time of year.
The winter Thrush count for today amounted to 52 plus Redwing, 25 plus Field fare ,2  Mistle Thrush ,the odd Song Thrush and around 19 plus Blackbird.
The only birds of note in the hedges were a passing flock of 10 Long Tailed Tits  ,and an assortment of Finches in one area with 15 plus Chaffinch ,10 plus Goldfinch and 4 Greenfinch all together .
It was quite good on the pastures however with 20 plus Meadow Pipits and a good count of 17 plus Pied wagtails feeding on the manured fields .There were also a small flock of 4 Stock Dove present.
The flock of Skylarks that winter with us only amounted to 7 plus Birds today ,a lower number than I would of expected.
On the raptor front a male Sparrow Hawk cruised over the garden and there were 2 Kestrel hunting the patch today. The Buzzard count got to 3 today .
The only other birds of note were 2 Jays calling to each other and the usual Green Woodpecker .
So it looks as if the patch is limping over the line towards the end of the year and unless we get some cold weather I cannot see us getting another species to add to our tally for the year

Back on the Patch ,and one that got away

Life has been getting in the way of the birding for the last couple of weeks and last weekend I went to see England play Australia so again I was not able to cover the patch.
The last couple of weeks has seen a male Peregrine over the patch ,calling Little Owl early one evening ,my first ever garden Jays (2), garden Bullfinch , and a liberal sprinkling of winter Thrushes .The feeders although busy have not brought anything unusual in as the weather has remained for the most part fairly mild ,that been said the last couple of days have been colder.
So Willow and I hit the patch as soon it was semi light ,it was milder with some lively showers moving through .It was obvious that we still had a good number of Blackbirds wintering with us with a final count of 26 plus seen today, but there was one bird that as it shot from my right made a call like a RING OUZEL,  it was not a Fieldfare, Blackbird coloured but I did not get a long enough view to positively ID it .It was gone in a flash and I have seen Ring Ouzel before but I cannot claim it as it was just too quick to get a firm bead on it .It could of been 88 but we remain on 87. It would be very late for a Ring Ouzel but they are still been seen as are other late summer migrants. The one that got away.
Winter Thrush were all over the patch and counts of 45 plus Redwing and 57 plus Fieldfare were nice to see, also present were 7 Song Thrush and 3 Mistle Thrush, have I seen all 5 species of British Thrush this morning ?  we will never know !
Along the hedges a female Stonechat was a good bird to see ,maybe she is wintering with us, others of her kind have since moved on. I managed to find 4 Bullfinch this morning ,including one very near the cottage again . Its also nice to report a Chiffchaff which was hwooeting away in the hedgerow, I could not turn into one of the Siberian variety ,it was just a Chiffchaff  but still a good bird to see. The number of Robins is back to normal levels and unless we get another influx I will not count them again.
The pastures were quiet with just 3 each of Meadow Pipit and Skylark (although I did see a flock of 9 yesterday) ,  Stock Dove numbered only 4 . There was a flock of 120 plus Starling  feeding on sheep pasture . Around the dung heaps 3 Pied Wagtails were feeding .
Overhead a Raven passed over ,and 3 Buzzards were floating about .Other Raptors seen were a male Kestrel and a superb Peregrine that made an unsuccessful attempt at some Woodpigeons
The best of the rest were a Green Woodpecker.
With the weather turning colder lets hope for the big one before the years end.

Hard Yards

Sometimes its hard to keep birding on your patch when just down the road at Ashleworth and Coombe there are birds aplenty  ,that has not been the case here this week ,it has been a very quiet week with the Autumn turning (well on the calendar anyway ) turning into winter. As such most migrants seem to have passed through so if we are to reach the magic 90 species this year on the patch we are reliant on birds moving due to the weather etc. , well the weather has just stayed the same , mild and wet , not at all like the hardest winter we are supposed to be having, that being said there has been a report of 3 Waxwings on the Gloster Birder so I am going to  keep scanning all those Starling flocks  .
So over the last week visits to the patch have been few and far between with work etc getting the way ,the only high lights in my brief visits were good numbers of Redwings with most days offering 3 figure counts ,lesser numbers of Fieldfares and an obvious arrival of Starlings onto the patch on Wednesday.
Willow and I hit the patch on Saturday around mid morning ,later than normal and I always feel that I will have missed something good.
The most prevalent birds were 57 plus Redwing ,20 plus Fieldfare and 21 plus Blackbirds most were feeding on the Hawthorn berries of which there are plenty. Other Thrush present were 4 Mistle Thrush and a nice sprinkle of Song Thrush some of which were singing . The influx of Starlings I mentioned seem to have disappeared with very few around . Other birds in the hedges were 8 plus Robin ,well down on recent counts and 2 Bullfinch well away from their usual haunt .
Overhead a soaring male Sparrow hawk was nice to see , and the usual 2 other raptor species showed with a lone Buzzard and a nice male Kestrel.
A couple of Jays passed over and 4 Raven menaced the patch passing low over gronking , I love them , great lumps of bad ass , almost saying "come have a go if you think yer hard enuff " .
 On the pastures it was very quiet with 5 Meadow Pipits and just 2 Skylark . It seems an age ago we were seeing large flocks of the former as they passed through. A lone Stock Dove and a Pied Wagtail made up the pasture brigade .
As I neared the outer limit of the patch I decided to walk on the very edge of the patch as the field in question has been under crops ,there is a nice area of Silver Beech and rough ground on the margins of this field and I was rewarded with a superb flock of 15 plus Lesser redpoll feeding on the birches, I really must look there more often ! .
The best of the rest for Saturday were 2 Green Woodpecker and a good count of 4 Greater Spotted Woodpecker  .
So Sunday dawned wet after over night rain and again super mild. It seemed to be a repeat of yesterday with nice flocks of redwings ,140 plus feeding on Hawthorn berries ,good grub for a hungry bird .Fieldfares numbered just 8 today and Blackbirds remained static at 19 plus .The latter seems to at around 20 plus birds wintering on the patch this year. 4 Mistle Thrush and around 6 plus Song Thrush made up the wintering Thrushes today. There were more Starlings about with 250 plus feeding on pastures and in the old orchards  .
 In the hedges 2 Bullfinch were pewing gently and 13 plus Robins ticked at each other .
On the pastures were 4 Stock Dove and 5 Pied wagtails feeding on the manured fields. A flock of 26 Linnet paused briefly before diving for cover, these are the first birds of any number for a few weeks . 5 Red Legged Partridge crouched beneath an hedge row ,they are very under rated birds ,so pretty when you look at them .
We seem to have got our gang of Ravens back with 4 over and around the patch. Lets hope they stay for the winter.
The best of the rest were a Jay, Green Woodpecker, 2 Buzzard and 1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker.
So after a quiet week we live in hope for something exciting and wintery.

White Ghost

Sorry for the late update, but I have been feeling under the weather so have not felt like updating the blog. Last week although generally quiet did have a couple of high lights the chief one being a superb Barn Owl which has been hunting along the field margins beside the magic hedge. Its also fair to say that winter Thrushes have arrived on mass with good counts of both Redwing and Fieldfares during the week .
By the time Willow and I managed to get out onto the patch Saturday it was mid morning ,much later than is normal and in truth I did not expect to see much given the migration season is all but finished .
In the hedges I still managed to find 11 Robins dotted about, the winterers having now settled in for next few months. A good count of 4 Bullfinch were seen ,their fan should be smiling for a while .
On the Thrush side 20 plus Blackbirds were about although a neighbour tells me he had counted a whooping 40 in a small copse next to his house the morning before so maybe they are still arriving .Their northern cousins put in a good show with 238 plus Fieldfare and 60 Redwing ,5 Mistle Thrush and a sprinkling of Song Thrush completed the set for the day.
On the pastures 21 plus Skylark were  nice to see ,although there were more around but I did not connect with them ,also seen was a good count of 12 Stock Dove on the stubble.
The only other birds worth a mention were a Green Woodpecker and a very vocal female Kestrel which was getting a good kicking from the local Jackdaws . There were a small number of Meadow Pipits with 5 been seen and 6 Pied wagtail bounced around the area.
A small flock of 9 Linnet seem to be wintering and a flock of 250 plus Starling were on pasture'. The final 2 birds seen were 2 Buzzards which sat  in a dead tree like the Vultures in Jungle Book.
Sunday dawned mild and grey ,still no frost .It appeared that Blackbirds had arrived overnight with 10 just on the lawn and in the end I counted 35 plus in the end ,there must be have been more around . Other Thrush seen were 102 plus Redwing and again 238 plus Fieldfare and 2 Mistle Thrush . Starlings stayed at 270 plus on the pasture , still  way down on previous years.
Other winter visitors about were 12 plus Robin dotted around in the hedges .
It was overhead which surprised me with 768 Woodpigeons moving east or south east, maybe I had missed more yesterday morning with the late start ,but it seems very late for a count of this size.
Just 3 Meadow Pipits moved over but not in any particular direction , so they must be wintering birds.
A Raven was heard ,the first for a few days and 2 Jay were heard but not seen . 16 Skylark were on the top fields and 3 Pied Wagtails were feeding in the same fields.
The usual invisible Green Woodpecker called and the local pair of Buzzards scanned the area. The final bird was the best of the day when a female Blackcap showed in the garden for a short while .A nice sighting for the time of year .
So lets hope we get some cold weather and then a few wanderers may appear on the patch

Northern invaision

Another week passes and in the last week there has been the long awaited arrival of Fieldfares .The first real numbers were seen on Thursday when with the east wind 200 plus passed southwards with a few  Redwing (20 plus),tagging along .I was woken on Thursday at 4.45am with a Tawny Owl calling from just outside the cottage.
On Friday it was not until 4pm until I got onto the patch after work but this turned out to be a great thing as at 4.15pm the 87th species for the year for the patch turned up in the form of a hunting Barn Owl which cruised back and forth along the magic hedgerow , a great bird , just stunning.
Fieldfares passed south even at that late hour with 220 over and 50 plus Redwing passed in all directions.
I had intended to hit the patch on Saturday but there was torrential rain  even with hail thrown in so it really was a quick jaunt but it was obvious that the rain had grounded a large number of Fieldfares and there were up too 600 plus feeding around the top fields ,to see these birds Willow and I had to get very wet and very dirty as the mud was very deep .It was only a few weeks ago it was as dry as a bone up there .  
So we were up and at em on Sunday and after all the rain the day dawned clear and there had been a frost. It was a lovely sight with a mist over the river meadows and the sun rising through it ,the Moon was also clearly visible and when flocks of Woodpigeons started to appear from north and pass over in a southerly direction I thought we were going to get another vis mig spectacular, as it happened 500 plus passed over in quick time but the passage then petered our as quickly as it had started.
I was ready for a mass Thrush invasion but was left a tad disappointed with totals of 74 plus Fieldfare, 25 plus Redwing ,4 Mistle  Thrush, 20 plus Blackbird and 7 plus Song Thrush which included some rather grey continental birds.
Around 100 plus Starling passed over in a westerly direction, we do not seem to have had the usual numbers this year.
On the pasture maybe a sign of cold weather to come with an influx of 53 plus Skylark including a flock of 35 plus , but only 4 Meadow Pipits today .The rest seem to have moved on. The freshly tilled field attracted 6 Pied wagtails down on the 22 that were around on Wednesday. A small flock of 7 Stock Dove were present .
 The invasion of Robins seems to have abated with a rather measly 10 seen dotted around ,but otherwise the hedges were very quiet with just a small flock of 8 Linnets been seen .
Other notable birds were a Raven ,the usual ever calling Green Woodpecker , a calling Jay (it was not seen ) ,2 Buzzards and a flock of 8 Magpie .
So we are at 87 for they year which is already 2 ahead of last year and we still have time to get to the magic 90 ,can we do it ? bring on a good cold snap and we may just get there.