A bit of a mixed day today, I had to forgo visiting the College Grounds, a dog agility event was taking place and the whole area was full of snapping, snarling, barking dogs, and their even louder owners! There was a similar event last month, I hope this isn't going to become a monthly thing :-(

Anyway, due to not covering the College grounds the daylist took a bit of a bashing, just 43 species were found this morning, but of those, two were new to the month, first a GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL (64) flew over the Lake area, while on the lakes themselves the BARNACLE GOOSE (65) had turned up again, with its CANADA GOOSE partner  :-) Three other pairs of Canada Geese were also on the lakes, as were 8 MOORHEN, 4 MALLARD, the pair of COOTS plus a KINGFISHER, which sat on the far side of the overhanging trees, far too distant for a photo, not that in the gloomy conditions it would have been very good anyway! A CORMORANT came in and sat atop one of the large Silver Birch Trees, waiting to come down onto the water.

Not much else was seen to set the pulse racing, though once again, as yesterday, I saw the COMMON BUZZARD sitting in the Greenhouse Copse, KESTREL and SPARROWHAWK were the other raptors seen, but as yet there has been no sighting of a Peregrine this month, I wonder if they have finally left the area now that the Tower has been enveloped in blue screens for nearly a year now  :-(

One achievement for the day was finding 5 Gull species, this has only happened once before in 11 years, as well as the above mentioned Great Black backed Gull, I also had BLACK HEADED, HERRING, COMMON, and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL.

Of the winter birds, FIELDFARE was the most recorded, several large flocks passed over headed NW, the only other winter bird recorded was the SISKIN 4 flew over the Wet Woods.

The two new species for the month takes this February up to second place out of 11, joint with 2011, and only 2 behind the record February total of 67, achieved in 2009, so with 3 full patch walks left and 8 shorter afternoon visits a new February record could just possibly be set - maybe a Brambling will turn up at my garden feeders, or a Mandarin Duck on the lakes, a flyover Mute Swan is surely due!  :-)

Photos today were limited by the dull dismal conditions, an attempt at the Canada Geese on the lakes was had, but a more successful shoot in my garden, during a 'bright spell' was made around midday, before rain set in later.

Canada Goose

Canada Goose

BLUE TIT

GREAT TIT

GREENFINCH

LONG TAILED TIT

Lastly, and my favourite for the day, a typical DUNNOCK, skulking among the some old decaying logs  :-)

I was out at first light this morning, and spent 5 hours on my patch in mostly cloudy conditions, but the occassional sunny spell early on made it feel quite springlike. My aim was to try to record 50 species for the visit, and try to add something to the month or year list, unfortunately I failed in all three, but it was very enjoyable trying!

It was a close run thing to get the 50 species for the visit, in all 47 were recorded, the likes of Pheasant and Redwing should really have been found, but these were the only two regular species that weren't. Some scarcer birds ( for my patch at least) did show today, a flyover LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL was one of those, and a COMMON BUZZARD that flew from perch to perch in the Greenhouse Copse was another. It was here that a pair of LITTLE OWLS sat in the same tree, taking in the warmth of a short lived sunny spell, and I came close to getting a (potential) great shot of one of them, but they flew off deeper into the copse as I raised my lens!

Two COOTS were on the lakes, always a scarce species here, hopefully they will make a breeding attempt, as a pair did last year. Also on the lakes were a GREY HERON and a CORMORANT, both good birds to get on the daylist, with those were the usual MALLARD and MOORHEN, plus 12 CANADA GEESE, which made the lakes quite busy for once!

A single SISKIN flew over, plus a few small flocks of FIELDFARE, but that was it as far as the winter species were concerned. Two other raptors joined the Buzzard in my note book, the KESTREL and the SPARROWHAWK, the latter giving some awsome display flights, first diving from high up at at impressive speed, before pulling up suddenly and stalling into another shallow dip - great to watch!

Photo opportunities were few, but the old regulars obliged, and showed off with some loud springtime song. :-)

Singing  CHAFFINCH

Singing ROBIN

Scurrying WREN