A sprinkling of soggy snow greeted me this morning

The more wintry conditions raised my hopes of finding a Snipe or Woodcock for the year list, by my 3 and a half hour walk this morning proved disappointing in that respect.

The snow soon thawed leaving a slushy muddy walk

During the visit, I found 6 species that didn't get recorded on yesterdays full patch walk - typical! They were; flyovers from GREY WAGTAIL and SKYLARK, 2 MEADOW PIPITS that were back on the Ashes Lane Fields, a MISTLETHRUSH that sang from the Wet Woods, 4 LESSER REDPOLL that were at the Greenhouse Grounds, in with a dozen SISKIN, and lastly, a GREY HERON that was lurking around the edge of the main lake, the only part of the lake that was ice free, it wasn't the only thing lurking, as there was a guy with an air rifle walking the the boundary hedge the divides the main lake from the adjacent fields, this always makes me nervous, as you never know where there fall of shot will end up.

Not much else to report out here, the snowy fields of Migrant Alley had 40-50 BLACK HEADED GULLS on them, along with the MEDITERRANEAN GULL, that was until a BUZZARD flew low over, I have never seen a Buzzard fly over a snowy field, the reflective light on the underwing made the whites stand out, the whole bird looked much more contrasty - very nice  :-)

The female Kestrel was missing for the second day, but the SPARROWHAWK was seen at my garden feeders later in the day, along with 16 other species, including SONGTHRUSH, NUTHATCH, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, GOLDCRST, COAL TIT and a dozen Lesser Redpolls.

None of these House sparrows were present at my feeders today though, this image was taken a few days back, the only one to visit my garden this year!

STARLING numbers are up though, peaking at 14 today

There was a moderate frost this morning, with partly cloudy skies and very little wind.

Just after dawn this morning, the few clouds in the sky were of course the ones obscuring the sun!

I under took the 6th full patch walk of the month today, where I recorded a bit of a disappointing 41 species, (42 if I include the TAWNY OWL which I heard in the early hours) Some of the recently seen regulars went unrecorded today, like Meadow Pipit, Mistlethrush, the female Kestrel, and Lesser Redpoll, plus the likes of Greenfinch and Sparrowhawk weren't found when they could have reasonably been expected, although the last 3 mentioned species were all seen at my garden feeders later in the afternoon.

SPARROWHAWK, not seen on my full patch walk, but this fine male specimen turned up at my garden feeding station. Another of those ''through the double glazing shots' !

Of the species I did encounter today, the undoubted highlight was glimpsing a LITTLE GREBE (61) as it dabbled among the overhanging branches on the main lake, but I soon lost it to view. This is a real bonus species for my year list, a rare bird on my patch! The only other birds seen on the lakes were the usual MALLARD and MOORHEN.

Mallards on the icy ornamental lake this morning.

The Wet Woods and Scrubby Woods yielded what was as expected, but it was good to also see a few LONG TAILED TITS in the Wet Woods, they have been absent for a while, plus the likes of GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, SISKIN, TREECREEPER, NUTHATCH, BULLFINCH, JAY, STOCK DOVE and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER were all seen as well.

Goldcrest in the Scrubby Woods

There were far fewer STARLINGS out on the pasture and paddocks of Migrant Alley and the Ashes lane Fields, just a few dozen, where the FIELDFARE and REDWING only numbered a dozen between them, there was however a decent size flock of 100+ BLACK HEADED GULLS at Migrant Alley, with them were the MEDITERRANEAN GULL, plus a few HERRING GULLS and a 4 COMMON GULLS.

The only raptor seen on the visit was a flyover BUZZARD, the only other noteworthy flyovers today came from a single YELLOWHAMMER and 23 GREYLAG GEESE.

In one of the more sunnier moments, this SONGTHRUSH was belting out its song!