No rain this morning - just fog, you cant win!!

With rain forecast to move into the area by afternoon, I was eager to get out and make the most of the dryer interlude this morning, especially as it was the last visit of the month. The hope of an early start was dashed however, as the dense fog didn't clear until gone 09:00hrs, I did at least get 3 hours out, finding a decent tally of 44 bird species, so it wasn't all bad news  :-)

I walked over to the lakes via the Ashes Lane Field at 08:00hrs, trying to pick out what I could as I went, CARRION CROW, DUNNOCK, JACKDAW, WOODPIGEON, GOLDFINCH, MAGPIE, WREN and ROBIN were all heard to call or sing, but none were seen! A small mixed party of LONG TAILED, BLUE and GREAT TITS were seen on the edge of the Wet Woods as I passed, further scanning produced a NUTHATCH and a STARLING, plus a couple of STOCK DIVES that flew out and into the fog.

At the lakes I was pleased to see that another female GOOSANDER had joined the 3 females and single male bird that have been there for the past two days, I duly noted the MUTE SWAN pair and the COOT pair, plus the MALLARDS and MOORHENS, but that was my lot, no new duck species for January.

I hung around as the fog cleared, and for two or three minutes the sun came out, before a short shower put an end to that extravagance, it did allow me to get some distant photo's of the Goosander though  :-)

These were about 50 meters away

This female did get to within 30 meters, after a long wait!

Whilst waiting for a photo chance of the Goosander, I heard REDWING and FIELDFARE flying over, plus GOLCREST, TREECREEPER, and COAL TIT singing from the nearby Scrubby Woods, where BULLFINCH, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and JAY were heard to call.

The fog had cleared for the rest of my walk, but it remained overcast as I squelched and slid around the fields, where not much was found until I reached the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley, here at least 30 HERRING GULL were found, along with a single BLACK HEADED GULL, plus, at last, a species for the year list, 3 COMMON GULLS (64) .

I ended my walk at the Greenhouse Grounds and the associated copse, the latter had the LITTLE OWL on its usual perch, whilst the former was good for the likes of GOLDFINCH, SISKIN, SONGTHRUSH, MEADOW PIPIT, and PIED WAGTAIL. A short sky watch was had, but just KESTREL and CORMORANT were seen of any note, that Grey heron that i've spent hours waiting for this month just didn't turn up, making this the first January ever that one hasn't been recorded on my patch, thats thirteen January's!

So by the months end I had tallied up 64 species, the third best January total, but the fifth most productive, as the January's of 2009, 2011 and 2013 all had a 68 species found, and 2010 had 65 species found. Lapwing didn't appear this month, only the second January not to have lapwing on the list, 2008 being the other. I could have expected a Teal this month as well, only 2 January lists have not had one, those being in 2007 and 2012. Throw in a Snipe, not that unusual in January and I could have equaled the highest January total :-)

It rained all day again today, so just another short mid morning patch visit was had, only 90 minutes was spent out, but it was enough to get me soaked and muddy  :-(

With such a short visit there wasn't much recorded, I watched the male and female KESTREL up hunting around the Greenhouse Grounds, the female caught a small rodent and stashed it away for a later meal. It was good to see a PEREGRINE once again, what looked to be a female bird flew over the Ashes lane Field as I headed for the lakes.

At the lakes, yesterdays 4 GOOSANDER were seen again, they were with a CORMORANT and a few MALLARDS. The COOT pair also remain, as do the MUTE SWANS plus the KINGFISHER, the MOORHENS were the only other birds on the water.

Squelching my way back home, I noted at least 30 HERRING GULLS fly over, I scanned them as they went, hoping to add Common Gull to the year list, there wasn't one among them though. Looks like there may be a short window of dry weather early tomorrow morning, before yet more rain and wind move in, hopefully I can use it to get a decent amount of time out for the last day of the month.

I spent some time watching my garden feeders this afternoon, and was pleased to see not only a LESSER REDPOLL among the 17 species I recorded, but also the first SISKIN of 2014 to come into my garden, the 25th species to do so this year, at least my garden list is still ticking over !

Garden Siskin ( photo from last year, I'm getting desperate for photo's now!!)

 Around 16:00hrs, a brief sunny spell broke through, for about two minutes, that didn't mean it stopped raining though!!!

Sunny spell..............and rain  ;-(

After overnight rain, it then rained for all of today, not particularly heavy rain, but a steady miserable rain that just added to my already waterlogged and flooded patch  :-(

It wasn't until after noon that I finally got out, but it was more to get some fresh air than to do much in the way of birding, it was thoroughly miserable out there!

I was only out for an hour, and just walked over to the lakes and back, via the Ashes lane Field, where I saw the female KESTREL hunting, a couple of MEADOW PIPITS were also of note on the weedier part of the field.

As I arrived at the lakes I had my fingers crossed that my first Grey Heron of 2014 would at last be seen, but it wasn't to be, however there were 4 GOOSANDER on the main lake, one of those a striking looking male, very nice  :-)  The pair of COOTS and the pair of MUTE SWANS were on the ornamental lake, and the KINGFISHER flew from one lake to the next, a CORMORANT sat at the top of a bankside tree, while MALLARDS and MOORHENS made up what was seen on the water bodies.

I headed of home again, wet and muddy....again......will it ever stop raining for gods sake!!  No looks to be the answer to that question, with the last 2 days of January looking to have more rain arriving  :-( 

Certainly no photo's today!

A morning of showers, rainbows and occasional sunny spells meant not much time was spent out on my quagmire of a patch today, yet more persistent rain was not welcome this afternoon :-(

I visited the lakes, as there is always a slim chance of finding a new duck species for the year there, but there wasn't one on this visit, however a new COOT had arrived, and looked to be getting along nicely with the one already there, hopefully they will pair up and breed as they have done for the past two seasons  :-)  The MUTE SWAN pair are still hanging around, as is the KINGFISHER, which I watched catch a fish and devour it head first. A CORMORANT almost dropped in, but thought better of it, but apart from that it was just MALLARDS and MOORHENS this morning.

A walk through the Scrubby Woods, then the Wet Woods was had, hoping for a new species for my year list, but only the regulars were found, so I decided on a sky watch over at Migrant Alley, as this is the next most likely activity to produce a year tick. I was there for 90 minutes, dodging showers, but alas the hoped for flyover Lapwing or Grey Heron were not forthcoming, the best I got were a couple of BUZZARD, a KESTREL, a few MEADOW PIPITS, two SKYLARK, of which one sang, and the usual to and froing of ROOKS, JACKDAWS, WOODPIGEONS, HERRING GULLS and BLACK HEADED GULLS.  I checked up on the LITTLE OWL at the Greenhouse Copse, and found it on it's usual perch, then headed off home.........wet and muddy!

There were a couple of short lived sunny spells around mid day, so as I ate lunch I took a few garden photo's to keep the blog pages brightened!  The SPARROWHAWK came in and alighted in its ambush tree whilst I was watching, all the Tit species then sat in the adjacent Elder tree alarm calling and mobbing, finally I got up and flushed the Sprawk out for them, which meant an onrush of at least 23 BLUE TITS to the feeders! They were everywhere!

STARLING, singing away in the sun

Its repertoire of song included the quack of Mallard and the kewick of Tawny Owl

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ROBIN

GREENFINCH

Spits and spots of rain this morning soon fizzled out, leaving a day of showers, with the odd bright spell. That was good enough for me to get round for a full patch visit and find a good tally of 49 bird species, some good patch birds were included, but anything new for the year list was not amongst them, frustratingly!

Top birds of the day must go to the pair of PEREGRINES that flew low and slow over the Scrubby Woods, a fantastic sight, also, 2 female GOOSANDERS were on the main lake for the third day running. The was quite a selection of species on the three water bodies today, as well as the Goosander there were the MUTE SWAN pair, 6 CANADA GEESE, a pair of MANDARIN DUCK, the COOT, a KINGFISHER, a CORMORANT, plus the regular MALLARD and MOORHENS, its unusual for so much to be seen on these small water bodies.

Before the Peregrines flew over the Scrubby Woods I had heard TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, SONGTHRUSH, MISTLETHRUSH, WREN, ROBIN, and DUNNOCK all singing, with NUTHATCH, JAY, BULLFINCH and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER all calling, along with the common regulars of BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, CHAFFINCH and GOLDFINCH.

Out on the fields it was a bit harder going, but a few REDWING and FIELDFARE were sat in the boundary trees of the Ashes lane Field, a small party of ROOKS and JACKDAWS were on the Pub Field, and at Migrant Alley 20-30 BLACK HEADED GULLS with a dozen HERRING GULLS, of mixed ages, sat out on the sheep pasture.

The LITTLE OWL was again at the Greenhouse Copse, but the Greenhouse grounds were disturbed today by a work crew, however, a few MEADOW PIPITS and PIED WAGTAILS still hung around the poly tunnel frames. I retired to my sky watching seat, which was not too bad vigil as i added two more Gull species, those being LESSER BLACK BACKED and more impressively for my air space another GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL, my third record of this species this month. A couple of single SISKIN were also heard going over, and the female KESTREL was up hunting, then a pleasing sound was heard when a SKYLARK got up from the sheep pasture and started to sing, the first one heard this year  :-)

Quite a good visit today, and with GREENFINCH and SPARROWHAWK being seen at my garden feeders this afternoon, the days tally reached a very good 51 species, the only species I think that I could of added today would have been Stock Dove and Pheasant, both eluded me today.

I got a few images in the short brighter spells, mostly of the Mute swan pair, just nice to have the camera out with me !

Mute Swan, they always come and greet me if they think I have some food  :-)

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''The'' Coot

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Mallard pair

I just about had time to visit the lakes, then go on to the Greenhouse Grounds before the rain and wind moved in for the day.

In the couple of hours I was out I found 40 species, but numbers of birds were low, and nothing new was added to the year list. Once again a female GOOSANDER was the pick of the bunch at the Lakes, although i'm always pleased to find MUTE SWAN and COOT here, especially when backed up by the KINGFISHER  :-)

A TREECREEPER sang from the edge of the main lake, and the nearby Scrubby Woods had at least two pairs of GOLDCREST setting up territories, where a COAL TIT sang, plus BULLFINCH and NUTHATCH called.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, JAY and a small, roving flock of BLUE and GREAT TITS were all that were encountered in the Wet Woods, although unknown numbers of FIELDFARE were heard calling above the tree tops too.

KESTREL and BUZZARD were up hunting over the Ashes Lane Field, while over at the Greenhouse Grounds, PIED WAGTAIL, BLACKBIRD, SONGTHRUSH, WREN, DUNNOCK, ROBIN, CHAFFINCH, GOLDFINCH, HOUSE SPARROW, and GREEN WOODPECKER all fed in their favoured habitats.

I scanned the pasture and paddocks of Migrant Alley just as the first spits of rain arrived, there were at least 50 ROOKS, 30 JACKDAWS and 30 BLACK HEADED GULLS with a dozen HERRING GULLS out there.

Another short and uninspiring visit, not helped by this dismal run of weather were experiencing  :-(  Still, just over a month to go and spring will be roaring in  :-)

With dense fog once again plaguing the area, I decided to wait for it to clear before heading out, giving me time to undertake this years RSPB ''Big Garden Birdwatch''.

Before I had even sat down, the Sparrowhawk flew through and went up into its ambush tree, I flushed it out and thankfully it stayed away for the hours watch  :-)

Here's what turned up in my allotted hours vigil.
SPARROWHAWK - 1
BLUE TIT - 13
GREAT TIT - 4
COAL TIT - 2
GREENFINCH - 2
GOLDFINCH - 9
CHAFFINCH - 8
COLLARED DOVE - 7
HOUSE SPARROW - 1
DUNNOCK - 3
STARLING - 4
BLACKBIRD - 2
NUTHATCH - 2
ROBIN - 3
MAGPIE - 1
JACKDAW - 2
LESSER REDPOLL - 3
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER - 2

The only species that didn't turn up, but was expected, was the Long Tailed Tit, it turned up after the hour had finished!

By 10:00hrs I was walking over to the Lakes out on my patch, of course at that time in the morning it was a predictably quiet walk. I saw the KESTREL pair as I passed the Greenhouses, they were calling to each other, the male bird flew low over me and I could see it had something trailing from it's legs, I couldn't see what it was properly but it looked like grass, hopefully it isn't anything more sinister than that.

A BUZZARD was seen up soaring as I walked the Ashes Lane Field, where in the more weedy part of the field I saw 4 REDWING and 4 MISTLETHRUSH feeding together, over head a dozen FIELDFARE headed NE.

On the lakes I was pleased to see 2 female GOOSANDER had returned, the MUTE SWAN pair and the single COOT were also present, and the KINGFISHER was seen well, a CORMORANT sat on top of a bankside tree, and a few MOORHEN and MALLARD made up the rest of what was on the water.

I spent a little while watching the sky from my seat over at Migrant Alley, but as has been the case for some while now, it was a mostly empty sky, just HERRING and BLACK HEADED GULLS were of any note. The LITTLE OWL was seen back on its perch at the Greenhouse Copse before I left for home.

This afternoon, predictably, it brightened up for a while, so I went into my garden shed to try and photograph the Redpoll that were seen at the feeders that morning, especially the nice rosy breasted male, but despite sitting and waiting for 2 hours, they never showed up!  I got a few images of the other regulars, but they are not the best efforts, due to the poor light and high ISO setting I had to use.

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

Coal tit

Long Tailed Tit

Great tit

Greenfinch

Greenfinch

Nuthatch

No wind, rain, or fog this morning, just plain old overcast, cant complain at that! It at least allowed me to get out for a good five hours and find a good tally of 48 bird species, which I extended to 49 for the day when the LESSER REDPOLLS were seen again at my garden feeders this afternoon, they have gone from two to three birds  :-)

That day total could easily of been fifty if the Kestrel and Little Owl had obliged, they have been regular so far this month, but that's birding!  The spring theme continued right from the off, when both GREENFINCH and CHAFFINCH were heard singing for the first time this year, they were joined in song by WREN, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, GOLDCREST, SONGTHRUSH, MISTLETHRUSH, and STOCK DOVE, if you can call their ''ooer'', ''ooer'', ''ooer'''' a song!

The MUTE SWANS, a lone COOT, plus a KINGFISHER proved to be the best on the lakes today, but a dozen GREYLAG GEESE thought about dropping in, but passed over in the end, as did 4 CORMORANTS. A large Oak tree in the Scrubby woods was proving popular for the likes of TREECREEPER, NUTHATCH, COAL TIT and LONG TAILED TIT, as I wathed these I heard BULLFINCH and SISKIN flyover.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was the only addition to my day list as I walked the Wet Woods, but more Goldcrest, Treecreeper a pair of MALLARDS and plenty of BLUE and GREAT TITS were also seen there.

I found a pair of LINNETS in the Small Holding, along with a GREEN WOODPECKER, a lone FIELDFARE, 8 REDWING, and a few BLACKBIRDS and THRUSHES, this is the busiest it's been here for a while.

I spent some time walking the Ashes Lane Field, and Pub Field mostly scanning the sky, as little was on the floor, most of what was seen flying over were Gulls, BLACK HEADED and HERRING, but 3 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS were a good find.

I got to Migrant alley to find a party of school kids being led around the pasture and paddocks, with another party in the wooded headland, which looks like its being turned into a school study area - that'll be the end of the breeding Turtle doves and summer warblers that use the area to nest in then  :-(

A work crew were cleaning the Greenhouses, so I just sat and watched the sky for half an hour or so, but apart from more Herring and Black Headed Gulls, not much was seen, just a SPARROWHAWK, a single SKYLARK, and a couple of PIED WAGTAILS. Once the school kids and their booming teacher ( maybe the kids were deaf?) had moved on, 8 MEADOW PIPITS returned to the sheep pasture, and a hen PHEASANT dropped in and run along the fenceline. A little later around 60 Black headed Gulls and a flock of maybe 75-100 ROOKS and JACKDAWS returned to the paddocks.

The camera stayed at home today, as it was so gloomy out there, but I manged some kind of garden photo's early this afternoon during a brief brighter interlude, only the usual fare, the Redpolls arrived when it turned dull again unfortunately.

Coal Tit

Long Tailed tit

STARLING

Dunnock, in mid song  :-)

Great Spotted woodpecker

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Fog again  :-(

The sun tried, but failed to break through

The fog this morning prevented much from being seen, and once it did clear I had just an hour before heavy rain fell, much later in the day it dried out and some sunny spells were had, but all too late  :-(

In the poor conditions just 38 species were found, nothing really of note, the MUTE SWAN pair and the COOT were on the ornamental lake, but nothing else apart from MALLARD and MOORHEN were on the other two lakes.

The odd winter thrush moved through the area, with two FIELDFARE and a single REDWING being found, also of note was the SPARROWHAWK and the KESTREL seen out hunting, and the LITTLE OWL was in its usual tree over at the Greenhouse Copse. Ten MEADOW PIPITS were a good find for here, they were seen on the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley, where I also saw a flock of 68 BLACK HEADED GULLS with just 2 HERRING GULLS, despite much scanning I couldn't find a Mediterranean or Common Gull amongst them.

Very little else changing here at the moment, although as I scanned the sky from my study window as the sun set, ever hopeful over a flyover Grey heron, I did see at least 8 LINNET wheeling around the Small Holding area, they must have a roost somewhere on my patch, need to find that!

Apart from the fog photo's, I failed to get anything else, apart from this distant fox, which dashed past me as i was crossing the Ashes lane field.

Fox on the run!

No fog this morning, but it was a dreary, overcast and dark morning, however, i'll take that over the fog anyday!

There wasn't an awful lot to get excited about early on as I made my way across the Ashes lane field to get to the Lakes, not surprising though, it was still practically dark at 07:30hrs. At the lakes there were comparatively few MALLARDS about, maybe 12 - 15 spread over three water bodies, where 5 MOORHEN were also seen. The MUTE SWAN pair have stayed on, will they possibly make a breeding attempt, the first ever here at Pittswood ?  A COOT and at least 1 pair of MANDARIN DUCKS made up the rest of what was seen on the water.

As the morning got a bit lighter (only just!) the birds began to be more active, lots of the common and regular species were again seen around the Scrubby Woods, some, like the COAL TIT, MISTLETHRUSH, SONGTHRUSH, DUNNOCK, WREN, ROBIN, GOLDCREST and even a TREECREEPER were all singing, the sound of calling NUTHATCH, BULLFINCH, GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, plus flyover calls from LESSER REDPOLL and SISKIN all helped cheer the morning up a bit.

Making my way back across the Ashes Lane Field I watched a mixed flock of REDWING and FIELDFARE drop into the adjacent large garden, which has an apple tree still holding apples, this is the biggest flock of winter thrushes seen so far this year - not quite the flocks of a 1000+ that used to frequent the fields here though.

I only spent 40 minutes or so over at the Greenhouse Grounds and the fields of Migrant Alley, as there was much disturbance from work crews at the Greenhouses and students wandering across the fields of Migrant alley. It wasn't a total waste of effort though, for as well as seeing the LITTLE OWL in the Greenhouse Copse once again, I also had the bonus of watching a LITTLE EGRET (63) fly over, one more for the year list, and one more for the January total, which has now reached the third highest tally of any January  :-)

This afternoon it eventually brightened up, so i got my camera out for some garden bird shots, not very exciting, but it brightens the page!

Nuthatch

STARLING

The ''Green'' perch was popular today, this GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER .............

..................... and this COLLARED DOVE stayed just long enough for a  image

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Another mornings patch visit was aborted today, I went out, but was back within the hour as dense fog made it pointless to stay out, even the MUTE SWANS on the lake were only just discernible, the fog limiting viewing to just 30m at times. It wasn't too cold out, but it was one of those damp chilly mornings that gets right through to your bones :-(  What a poor winter this is turning out to be !!

Back at home I did a few household chores, and also did some light work around my small garden ponds, clearing out some of the rotting leaves so as not to lose all the oxygen from the water. Whilst in the garden many Tit species were whizzing to and fro, not really caring if I was there or not, I also watched 4 ROBINS, they all thrust out there big red breasts at each other ( that doesn't sound right does it!!) bobbing and weaving in threat display.

At times the fog looked like lifting, prompting me to point the camera out of the window, but any brightness didn't last more than a few minutes, and the fog didn't lift till gone 15:00hrs.

I took some interesting, if not very sharp photo's, not much can be done in that kind of light.

COAL TIT

Coal Tit, reaching its destination  :-)

I love the way this LONG TAILED TIT is hanging on by one leg  :-)

Gripping a lump of fat with the other leg, shame it was so dull out there

Around 15:30hrs, a burst of sunlight broke through the murk, and almost immediately the SPARROWHAWK flashed through the garden, I had only just re instated the tube feeders on Sunday, as the Sprawk hasn't been seen for a while, how does it know I had put them back up! Anyway I watched it chase and miss the hoard of Tits, then alight on the fence, I took some ''Through the double glazing shots'' so the images are a bit soft, but interesting anyway  :-)

Pesky Sprawk!

I added a bit of positive exposure on this shot, as it was against the light.

There was quite a hard frost this morning, a rarity this winter, but it wasn't a bad morning weatherwise, no wind, no rain, and the odd glimpse of sun through the high veil of cirrus clouds  :-)

Two hours were spent on my patch visit, mainly over at the lakes and Scrubby Woods, where on the water today the now daily sightings of MUTE SWAN and COOT were had, along with the resident MALLARDS and MOORHENS. A female GOOSANDER was visiting, and three CANADA GEESE had dropped in as well, I couldn't locate any Mandarin Duck or the Kingfisher today, but they were quite possibly hiding up somewhere.

The search for an exotic species, like Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Firecrest, or even a Marsh Tit in the Scrubby woods was not fruitful, the past years have always produced a Marsh Tit here, as one normally overwinters, but it looks like that particular species isn't going to make the year list for 2014 :-(

TREECREEPERS were calling, as was a NUTHATCH, giving it's ''wee wee wee'' spring call, I actually watched it doing this, seeing it stand on its toes and stretching its head and neck skywards as it called, never seen that before  :-)  BULLFINCH, GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, and SISKIN were the best of what else was seen.

There was a work crew at the Greenhouse Grounds, so it wasn't so productive there today, but 8 MEADOW PIPITS and 6 PIED WAGTAILS were still feeding around the poly tunnel frames, and the nearby Greenhouse Copse was home to the LITTLE OWL again.

I sky watched from my seat for half an hour, overlooking the open skies at Migrant Alley, ever hopeful of adding a flyover Lapwing or Grey Heron to the year list, but the sky was was particularly empty today, just HERRING GULLS and BLACK HEADED GULLS went over, and the male KESTREL was watched as it hunted.

Photo's today are from my garden, taken yesterday while waiting for the Redpolls to sit still, they were in again today, but I had no time to photograph them.

GOLDFINCH

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COLLARED DOVE

BLUE TIT

Misty Start

After the mist and variable amounts of cloud cleared this morning, todays patch walk was undertaken in some decent spells of sunshine. Once again a good tally of 46 species was recorded, in a little over 3 hours, and at last the years list was added to!

It wasn't until after I had visited the lakes that the first addition to my year list since 11th appeared when 4 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS (61) were seen flying over the Ashes Lane Field, its unusual to see more than one at a time here, with just one sighting of this species in each of the two previous years.

Earlier, on the lakes, I had recorded 2 female GOOSANDER with a CORMORANT on the main lake, also 2 pairs of MANDARIN were there, plus 6 MALLARD. The ornamental lake was again home to the MUTE SWAN pair and the lone COOT, with those were another 5 Mallard and 2 MOORHEN.

PHEASANT at the Greenhouse Grounds

Just one raptor species was seen this morning, that was the KESTREL hunting at the Greenhouse Grounds, where in the adjacent Greenhouse Copse my second LITTLE OWL of the day was seen, the first one being over at the old shack in the Ashes Lane Field.

There was still plenty to see in and around the Greenhouse Grounds, with the likes of LESSER REDPOLL, SISKIN, BULLFINCH, GOLDCREST, LONG TAILED TIT, and MEADOW PIPIT all being recorded, along with the common and regular species of BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, CHAFFINCH, GOLDFINCH, HOUSE SPARROW, WREN, DUNNOCK, ROBIN, PIED WAGTAIL, SONGTHRUSH, and BLACKBIRD.

As I made my way home along ashes lane, I heard the call of a REED BUNTING (62), which I then picked out in the sky, I watched it alight along the drainage ditch in the Ashes lane Field, one more for my year list! January's list now sits in joint 5th place out of 13, joint with January 2008 and 2012  :-)

Early this afternoon I noticed the Lesser Redpoll pair were back at my garden feeders, the sun was shining today, so i hoped to get some better photo's of them, but the only photo chances came whilst they were actually on the feeders, not ideal, but I took the chance anyway :-)

Lesser Redpoll

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