Sunrise this morning

Patches of cloud came and went this morning, giving some nice sunny intervals during my 4 hour full patch walk, making it much more enjoyable than yesterdays  :-)

A tally of 45 species was a little above what I would expect on a December visit, and it was pleasing to add 3 new species to the months list, the first being a fantastic male PEREGRINE (51) that flew low over Ashes lane early on.

Another sunrise image  :-)

Over at the lakes the MUTE SWANS were chasing the MALLARDS about, maybe a bit of territorial aggression ? Could they be thinking of breeding here? They would be the first Mute Swans to do so. The KINGFISHER was seen again, after a two day absence from my list, but the only other species on the water today was the MOORHEN.

Whilst in the Scrubby Woods, noting down all the regulars like BULLFINCH, TREECREEPER, COAL TIT, NUTHATCH and GOLDCREST, I heard, then picked out, a YELLOWHAMMER (52) as it flew over, the first here since October, Yellowhammers are getting so scarce here now, to think they used to occur in flocks!

I've picked out a few yellowhammer stats that show the alarming decline of this species :-

In 2002 I recorded Yellowhammer on 87% of my full patch walks, with first 5 years of recording on my patch giving me an average sighting of 71% per full patch walk.
The second 5 years of recording gave me an average sighting of 61% of full patch walks, while the the last two years of recording, the sightings have dropped to just 26%, this year Yellowhammer has been sighted on just 19% of full patch walks. The last flock of Yellowhammers that had more than 8 birds in it was seen in 2004.

Back to todays visit, and the better day continued as I walked the fields and Greenhouse grounds, with the likes of SPARROWHAWK, KESTREL, and LITTLE OWL being found, a flock of LONG TAILED TITS were followed along a battered hedgerow, giving me a photo opportunity, and a pair MEADOW PIPITS flew up and over the Greenhouses, it was as I watched them that the third addition to the months list was found - a GREY HERON (53) .  Asecond Little owl was seen in the Greenhouse Copse, this one was more obliging than the one at the old shack in the Ashes lane Field!

Little Owl sunning itself on the edge of the Greenhouse copse

The Owls perch shows the mess of the treeline, due to the hedge flailers

Long Tailed tit

Distant Mallards leaving the lake before I got there!

It was good to get out early for a full patch walk this morning, the weather continues to be stuck in the still and overcast conditions, which is not really going to bring much of a change in the bird species here, and despite being out for much of the morning a low total of just 39 species was recorded.

JACKDAW, WOODPIGEON, STARLING, CHAFFINCH, ROBIN, and HOUSE SPARROW were the first species on my list as I walked along Ashes lane towards the Small Holding, where DUNNOCK, BLUE TIT, WREN, BLACKBIRD and GREAT TIT were added. The Wet Woods was very still, and only MOORHEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER found their way into my notebook.

Reaching the lakes and Scrubby Woods I found both habitats less busy than my recent late morning visits, the MUTE SWAN pair and 18 MALLARDS brought the mornings species tally to just 15. The Scrubby Woods added GOLDCREST, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, MISTLETHRUSH, COAL TIT, BULLFINCH and JAY, while overhead a pair of CORMORANTS circled the lakes.

Out on the Ashes Lane Field 8 MAGPIES were seen, and the old shack there was home to the LITTLE OWL, the adjacent Pub Field had 3 BLACK HEADED GULLS quartering over it, with around 40 ROOKS feeding on it, but not the hoped for Lapwing.

A circuit of Migrant Alley looking across the pasture and Paddocks gave me CARRION CROW and HERRING GULL for the days tally, both flyovers, plus a lone MEADOW PIPIT that flew up from the pasture.

I finished up at the Greenhouse Grounds and the associated Greenhouse Copse, which added the final nine species for the morning, they were, SONGTHRUSH, the only FIELDFARE of the morning, GREEN WOODPECKER, LONG TAILED TIT, GOLDFINCH, LESSER REDPOLL, PIED WAGTAIL, COLLARD DOVE and KESTREL.

I think a change in the weather is needed to shake things up a bit here!

I took these Nuthatch images yesterday from my garden

I wasn't going to post them because of that screw in the background! its all I have though!!