Last nights dusk

A difficult morning today, in overcast and dull conditions birding was not easy, in fact the visit was more beneficial as a bit of exercise than anything else  :-)  In the 4 hour visit, just 38 species were found, well down on what I would expect, species such as Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Coal Tit, plus the lack of any Raptor species, all which should have been easily found, were not!

There were a couple of scarcer species found though, a KINGFISHER (52) on the main lake joined the December list, and the RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE was found on the Pub Field today, it flew up as I passed and headed to the Greenhouse Complex Grounds.

Not much is moving to or from my patch at the moment, two flocks of FIELDFARE, one of 24 and one of 18, a flock ( if you can call it that) of 4 REDWING, plus singles of LESSER REDPOLL and YELOWHAMMER were just about the only clue that it is actually now winter.

At least my garden feeders have become a little busier, this afternoon I sat and watched them for a couple of hours, and didn't have the Sparrowhawk in at all ( hence busy feeders!) Some of the missing species arrived to feed, including two GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS, 5 GREENFINCH and 6 GOLDFINCH. It was good to see a WREN amongst the shrubs, and a GOLDCREST in the Elder, two NUTHATCH came in together and both BLUE and GREAT TIT have increased in numbers, with 15 and 6 respectively, even two HOUSE SPARROWS turned up, the first for a fortnight! I did try to get some photo's, but the light was shocking, the only one I didn't 'bin' was of this ROBIN.

Looking at the weather it seems a brief cold spell is coming into the NW of England, maybe that will force a few species down here, a Snipe or Woodcock would be nice :-)

Robin

The first full patch walk of December began with rain, making it a rather late start, plus it didn't get light till 07:30hrs.  Around 09:45hrs that  rain cleared and some sunny spells developed, making it a rather warm December day, but just look what it was like on this date last year!!

Ashes Lane on the Morning of Dec. 3rd last year

I was out for a little over 3 hours, recording 43 species in that time, which is just about average for a December day. The first species that was added to the months list today was the HOUSE SPARROW (44) half a dozen were in the hedgerow along Ashes Lane. Nothing much out of the ordinary was seen as I walked over to the lakes, through the Small Holding and Wet Woods, just ones and two's of BLUE and GREAT TITS, CHAFFINCH, BLACKBIRDS, COLLARD DOVES and ROBINS, plus all the Corvid, MAGPIE, JACKDAW, CARRION CROW and JAY.

A LESSER REDPOLL was sat at the very top of a fir tree, calling and singing, as I entered the Lake area, where song was also heard from WREN, DUNNOCK, Robin, MISTLETHRUSH, TREECREEPER and SONGTHRUSH. On the 3 water bodies, nothing more exciting than the MALLARD and MOORHEN were seen, as is the case 90% of the time, but as I watched and waited, a CORMORANT circled over, but didn't come in, also noted going over was the second new species for the month - FIELDFARE (45) five of which called, and dropped down into the Scrubby Woods, my walk round here provided me with the familiar species of BULLFINCH, the first  GREENFINCH (46) of the month, PHEASANT, LONG TAILED TIT and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.

Making my way over to the Tree Nursery, Pub Field, and Migrant Alley, all was pretty quiet really, numbers of birds being very small, but I added a flyover YELLOWHAMMER (47) and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL (48) to the December tally, as well as SKYLARK (49), two flew up from the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley. The fiftieth monthly species was a good bird to get here, and the first to be recorded in any December - yes, it was another sighting of the RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE (50) as it flew into the Greenhouse Complex Grounds  :-)

It was now a bit late for walking the College Grounds, too many people were about by now, but I did it anyway, finding GOLDCREST, MEADOW PIPIT, GOLDFINCH, PIED WAGTAIL and the only Raptor today KESTREL, also one more for the months list when a STOCK DOVE (51) flew over, the months list moves on to 51, still 5 behind the lowest total achieved for the ten years, hopefully, that will be passed in tomorrows visit!

Despite some good sunny spells I didn't get any photographic chances, so here's another snowy scene from this day last year - this was from my garden.

10 inches of snow on the garden this time last year!