The day dawned much as it has done over the past 8 weeks, that is, overcast and gloomy, with spits of rain in the air, but it was unseasonably mild again, with little wind until later in the day.
No additions were made to the months list during the four hour full patch walk, but the days tally of 45 bird species was a bit better than average. A skein of 30+ GREYLAG GEESE flew over the Greenhouse Grounds, I've not seen this species for a while here, I had hoped for the first Canada Goose of the month to be with them, but no luck!
Not much else was recorded that hasn't been around over the past few visits, but it's always good to see the likes of LITTLE OWL, KESTREL, BUZZARD, SISKIN, LESSER REDPOLL, YELLOWHAMMER and MEADOW PIPIT on my patch during December. A flyover CORMORANT added to the variety, but the skies were mostly empty of such scarcities, although FIELDFARE and REDWING made flyover appearances throughout my walk.
Nothing of interest was on the lakes, but I still hold out hope yet of finding a Goosander or a Duck species for the months list :-)
An afternoon 'garden bird watch' proved interesting, with 20 species visiting the feeding station, the best of those being NUTHATCH, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, COAL TIT, LESSER REDPOLL, SISKIN, SONGTHRUSH, WREN and a peak count of HOUSE SPARROWS for the year, with no fewer than five arriving for a short while :-)
Garden GREAT TIT, in brighter times!
6 comments:
20 species in the garden! unbelievable, some people are so lucky.
If tomorrow's forecast is correct I should have a long lie in if I was you.
Derek,
should have been 22 as the Greenfinch never showed up today, normally a regular, nor the Sprawk!
I love to listen to the birds in the pre-dawn hour as I lie in bed still drowsy. One of the many pleasures of retired life.
North / south divide Warren. We had snow. It only lay here in Wallsend for an hour or two but elsewhere locally it is still on the ground !
John,
I think I would prefer that weather :-)
Wilma,
You can't beat it! :-)
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