In the region of my feeders - Long Tailed Tits, Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches, Robins, Goldfinch , Blackbird, what sounded like Redwings in the hedges and the biggest surprise of all as a Goldcrest...I wonder if this has been attending my occasional feeding station?
1 Wren
Calf hey:-
saw 2 rare vagrants to this side in the form of Bob N Archie......nice to meet you both....a Grey Wagtail popped up.....looking very dapper!
I counted 11 teals
10 mallards
1 wren
1 kestrel
a grey woodpecker yaffled as I walked back from the felled plantation on the south-west side
10-15 Fieldfare flew from east on towards Musbury
Ogden
53 meadow Pipits on high part of slope...prob roosting as it was nearly 4.30......51 were together......possible migrants?
Holden Wood:-
female pheasant was in the rushes at the ogden end of the reservoir
wren in there too
no snipe on the bank
16 min cormorant in roost
1 kestrel
something strange in the cormorant roost - originally I thought there was some junk in the roost tree but whatever it is happens to look black/dark with some white on and a possible yellow line.....and it appears to be hanging from the tree.......there has appeared to be a bit of "junk" in the trees at times......it was dark so the light was not the best but there is this small doubt in my mind that bit of junk was looking like a cormorant hanging down .....if any one does go up do have a good look.....I am hoping I have got it wrong!
Visited Holden Wood again today 2.30-3.15pm primarily to see if anything visits my feeder and I had a Wren, at least 2 Long-tailed Tits, at least 2 Blue Tits, 1 Great Tit. On one of the fallen trunks that I put food on there was Fox Poo - looks like the largest visitor to this outside feeding station.
Other birds - 24-25 Lapwing which all took to the air looks like were spooked by Crows. 15 Cormorants in the roost and 1 on the water. 2-4 Mallard. 1 male Pheasant which flew across the road
A GS Woodpecker with a nice beautiful red shiny bottom calling just opposite the turn off to troy quarry car park.
Sounded like Redwing in the bushes or maybe in the conifers opposite the entrance to the car park.
I am now almost certain that the "piece" of junk is a dead Cormorant hanging - would it have died naturally or foul play?
Interesting about the Meadow Pipits, because the same has been happening up here, but not as many as you. Because the weather has been so mild, we think they have overwintered this year. I saw them up here in December and again this month. But cannot recall seeing them in January.
Lots of other stuff has not even bothered coming through this year, low Continental Starlings counts, low Fieldfare Counts. So mild and lots of food in the Scandinavias.... so why bother coming over here. Even the Waxwings are eating insects this year in the Scandis... if that isnt saying something...
Keep up the good work, always great reports, but especially about the Mipits, thanks. Bryan.