A horrible wet and very windy day today, although it was very mild, . The whole area looks as if it is going to be flooded again with all the rain and meltrd snow.
2 Lesser Redpoll were on the feeders again which is nice to see .On the patch itself the main thing was a large flock of 400 plus Fieldfare with 100 plus Starling and 50 plus Redwing . There was more Woodpigeons of late with 400 plus, including a large 300 plus flock flying northeast. A new species for the patch list was found with a flock of 7 Red Legged Partridge .Apart from that 1 Meadow Pipit, 2 Buzzard, female Kestrel, and a flock of Skylarks were heard going over .
The patch list now stands at 54

What a difference a day makes ! today was mild very windy and even the sun came out for a while ,mind you this was after torrential rain overnight which melted all the lying snow and left the ground saturated again.So it came as no suprise to find 47 Lapwing on the adjacent fields , but what was a suprise was the flock of at least 1000 Lapwings which flew over from the now flooded river meadows, a great sight.
The other main featurec of the day was the start of the northward movement of Skylark , with the winter flock of 47 plus birds still on pasture and another at least 19 seen heading directly north. There seems to be only 2 Meadow Pipits left now ,the others having moved on.Winter Thrush 's totalled 85 plus Fieldfare and 20 plus Redwing, and a Mistle Thrush was noted.
The best of the rest were 5 Stock Dove ,just 100 plus Starling, and a Buzzard
So perhaps the first hints of Spring or am I being over optomistic?
The patch species remains the same.

A couple of days worth of updates.Yesterday was really cold with a searing east wind, pressure from work and general stuff meant that I only managed a quick trot around the top part of the patch, but even so I managed to see a few nice birds .There were a larger number of Lapwings about with 74 on pasture  with 30 plus Fieldfare, also 600 plus Starling .
Anyway back to today still very cold but  there  is a thaw on the way, still under time pressure so again a quick visit around the top of the patch a cracking flock of 45 plus Skylark and about 100 plus Common Gulls  were feeding on the frozen pasture. The Lapwing flock has decreased to 15 and winter thrushes consisted of 5 Redwing and 15 Fieldfare. Just 2 Meadow Pipits today .The usual Kestrel was on station and a Buzzard passed by. I was pleased to hear a Tawny Owl calling at 5am this morning when I was working ,it sounded as if it was on the roof of the house !
A year tick for the patch was a pair of Mute Swan which pushs the patch total to 53 

At last something to write about, the weather has been cold with snow over the last couple of days, but today although cold with snow flurries there were
 at 4 signs of a thaw .With the weather becoming milder with rain, I fear floods maybe our next problem, there is alot of water on the land at the moment.
There were some good birds on the feeders today amongst the common species, Lesser Redpoll, Nutatch, Coal Tit, and a great bird in the form of a Brambling.
On the patch 33 Lapwing on the frozen pasture were kept company by 40 Common Gulls and a Raven .Fieldfare(30plus), and Redwing(20 )were feeding on the thawing snow .A really good count of 47 plus Skylark was the highest of the winter so far.
There are still good numbers of Starling with 800 plus about today. There were 8 Meadow Pipits flitting about and a Green Woodpecker was heard. There was a flock of 10 Goldfinch over and a Stock Dove passed over.
The patch list now stands at 52

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