Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Snowbound Waterworks Lane

Waterworks Lane feeding station

Reed Bunting in a bush outside the conservatory

Chaffinch resting in the garden after guzzling a load of wheat

Houghton Green Flash - totally devoid of bird life

Goldfinch in the garden

A couple of Jackdaws flitting about in one of the Ash Trees - I like the pattern of the snow-laden branches against the sky

A few dodgy record shots of feeding time at the back of the garden

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I never thought I would see snow like this in Cheshire - it reminds me of Ossy moors when I was a kid. Unfortunately the snow has somewhat disrupted events - it has taken me 2 days to dig the drive out and get mobile again!

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Yesterday I was stuck at home working in the conservatory. All day the garden was teeming with birds - they were everywhere. The morning started with the now usual scold from the resident Fieldfare in the roost with the Blackbirds - I have come to expect the chek chek call when I go out to check on the rabbits. An hour or so after sunrise it was joined by approx 20 other birds and they spent all day foraging on the left lawn. Today it was present for its 20th day, still roosting with the local Blackbirds and chasing allcomers off the berry bush. Around 4 or 5 other birds came in today - again not appearing until an hour or so after dawn.

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As I haven't been able to get near the feeding station, when I scraped off the snow in the garden yesterday and put down some mixed corn, there was an endless stream of Chaffinches, Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Tree Sparrows. Song and Mistle Thrushes also joined in and three Pheasants. The male Bullfinch was also back and the male Sparrowhawk showed off from a perch in the Silver Birch! It was a grey and gloomy day, however I cannot remember seeing so many birds in the garden - throughout the day I would estimate that hundreds came for food.

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Today was more pleasant in that the sun came out. There were less birds in the garden today but still theusual species. I managd to get to the feeding station and scrape away some snow before putting plenty of seed down - hope everything comes back. HGF was barren - the pool frozen and covered in snow with no birds at all visible. This is going to be one hard winter for the birds!

Relax - don't do it!

Three red-head Smews on Pit 29, Cotswold Water Park

This Smew was content resting on the ice

Distant record shot of an elusive drake Smew. I scanned this water for over an hour before I saw him!

Red-crested Pochards

Red-crested Pochards with a few Wigeon

This is pit 29 at Cotswold Water Park - not exactly a pleasing name for this superb lake

Around a dozen Cormorants were perched in a tree on an island in the lake - they were very noisy too!

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Well here we are in 2010. One of my main aims this year is to relax with the birding and stop chasing stuff too much – one of the reasons why, like last year, I am not bothering with a year list.
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Anyway my first species of the year, like every year, was Blackbirds – playing on the lawn when I opened the curtains. On New Years day I quickly set off for HGF where the third species of the year was a couple of cracking Golden Plovers which flew across the path in the south field. There was nothing else of great significance at the pool with it being largely frozen – the Wigeon flock were all stood on the ice and most of the aythya ducks had departed. In the garden it was busy – the Fieldfare was still present and at least 8 Reed Buntings were feeding at the back of the garden. We were soon heading down the M6 and M5 for my brother-in-laws wedding the day after – a male Stonechat observed in a layby while we ate our sandwiches was the only other bird of interest that day.
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2nd Jan and I managed a couple of hours at the nearby Cotswold Water Park in the morning with Billy. CWP is a series of lakes created by gravel extraction – there are over 140 of them covering a very large area. It would be easy to spend days here – I decided to wander round just one lake – pit 29. The small stretch of woodland leading to the lake was fruitful with 3 Jays, Goldcrest, Bullfinch, 2 Ravens, 40+ Redwings, Great Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Green Woodpeckers all picked up along with other common species.
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The lake itself was largely ice free even though the temperature was sub-zero – it was a stunning sunny and crisp morning. The joint star billing on this stretch of water is shared between large numbers of Red-crested Pochards and a small group of Smews. The RCP drakes are stunning ducks – I counted at least 125 of this species on the water – local counts have often greatly exceeded this. I also finally managed to locate 7 Smew with 6 red-heads and a smart drake being present. The latter were extremely elusive – it took over an hour to find the drake and the same time to get all six red-heads together too. There were plenty of other ducks on the water – at least 12 Pintail plus three Goldeneye, 80+ Wigeon, 30+ Teal and lots of Gadwall, Pochard and Tufted Duck. I could quite easily have stayed here all morning, however a wedding beckoned!

And now, the end is near...(2009 that is!)

Ring-necked Duck, Pugney's CP

This is the sort of view I had from across the lake when I picked up the sleeping RND in amongst a couple of hundred other aythya ducks

The light was poor for digiscoping

Ferruginous Duck, Pugney's CP

Note the size difference between the Fudge and the Pochard

Velvet Scoter, Barrow Lodge

Pink-footed Geese, Downholland Moss

A blur of Tree Sparrows at the feeding station!

Tree Sparrows feeding

Yellowhammer, Waterworks Lane

Greenfinches, Waterworks Lane

Look how well these Corn Buntings blend in to the stubble

Six of the Corn Buntings came to the feeding station today

Starlings - dusk at HGF

Goosander, HGF

A family of Mute Swans chilling out at HGF!

Fieldfares on the lawn

The now resident bird guarding its berries!

Couple of Stock Doves in the garden

Pale, partially leucistic Collared Dove in the garden

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So here we are – the end of my first year keeping a blog. At times I have found it to be a right royal pain in the arse, however for the first time I have a visual record and reminder of all the good times I have had birding during the year so the time and effort was well worth it overall. Here’s a summary of the final few days of the year.
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23rd December
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I managed to get a detour to Barrow Lodge – essentially a duckpond near my birthplace of Whalley where an immature drake Velvet Scoter has taken up residence. The pond was largely frozen with just a narrow strip free. Here the scoter was feeding on fresh water mussels while being constantly mobbed by Black-headed Gulls. A superb bird on an inland water and an odd one for a duckpond! At HGF this morning 8 Canada Geese dropped in while around 30 Fieldfares and a single Redwing were feeding in the hedges – the thrushes were also walking on the ice at the edge of the pool trying to get a drink from the odd bit of ice-free water. The Wigeon flock was at 62 while around 70 Lapwings were feeding in the field opposite the kennels. In the garden the Fieldfare is still present while a record 16 Blackbirds were in the roost this morning. Other visitors to the garden included a Stock Dove and a cock Pheasant.
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Christmas Eve
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At HGF this morning a female Goosander was present feeding along the edge of the ice. These are rare visitors to the pool – this is only my fourth sighting of one and the other three were much less confiding than this one. Two Redshanks were patrolling the edge today. In the garden a dozen or so Fieldfares joined the resident bird though the newcomers spend all their time feeding on the lawn. They stayed all day. 18 Chaffinches, a Song Thrush, a Tree Sparrow and a record 8 Reed Buntings were also in the garden. At the feeding station 38 Chaffinches were observed with 42 Tree Sparrows and a covey of 8 Grey Partridges. A further covey of 9 Grey Partridges were stood in the snow in a paddock near the corner of Arbury Lane this morning.
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Christmas Day
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72 Wigeon on HGF this morning with 23 Tufties and a few Pochard. At least 220 Black-headed Gulls also present. A Heron was stood in the grass at the base of the south hedge! The Arbury Lane covey of Grey Partridges was showing well while in the garden the Fieldfares from yesterday remained all day and the male Bullfinch showed up for long periods. Waterworks Lane was busy with plenty of birds in the field opposite the feeding station – 9 Yellowhammers, 80+ Linnets plus a few Skylarks.
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Boxing Day
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Two Buzzards hanging in the wind down the east side of HGF this morning. 18 Linnets were on the wires nr Midhops Farm while at least 700 Woodpigeons flew out of the woods to the east of the slip road. They make a superb sight flying low over the pool on squadrons like bombers going on a major raid! In the garden remained the Fieldfares – again all bar one feeding on the lawn. This is slightly surprising as the lawn is covered in snow – however they seem determined to find something. The fields opposite the feeding station are busy again today with 19 Corn Buntings the pick along with 25+ Yellowhammers, 80+ Linnets, 30+ Chaffinches and a few Skylarks. Only 32 Tree Sparrows at the feeding station itself.
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27th December
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The Fieldfares have now moved on though the single bird in the berry bush is still present. A Jay was at HGF this morning and a male Sparrowhawk at the feeding station this afternoon. I did make a quick trip to Pennington where I bumped into John Tymon. I think we both realised it was a crap idea and we quickly left! Around 220 Starlings were busy eating seed at the feeding station – not sure this is a good idea!
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28th December
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Foggy all day and crap visibility. Planned trip to the mosses was postponed. Male and female Bullfinches in the garden with the usual Fieldfare still there. 70+ Tree Sparrows at the feeding station plus two coveys of Grey Partridges (8 and 7). A Heron also visited the garden today.
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29th December
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Day trip the west Lancs. I started off in the morning with a drive around Downholland Moss. Around 2500 Pink-footed Geese were in distant fields – these flew off in the direction of Plex Moss. A few coveys of Red-legged Partridges were showing well and a flock of 140+ Linnets was buzzing around. At Plex Moss I first found a large flock of over 300 Fieldfares and good numbers of Stock Doves. These moss roads are not the best in normal conditions – today they were still covered in ice and a bit ropey! Further down the lane were around 3000 Pinks – in a roadside flash were also around 50 Whooper Swans right by the road. Would have been marvellous views but for the photographer with the big lens who had to get out of his van and spook them all just before I got there. Totally unnecessary – he could have got decent shots through the van window. B******d! Further down the lane a female Sparrowhawk flew across the road right in front of the car.
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I next stopped at Ainsdale Beach. A few waders were scuttling around the shoreline – Sanderling, Dunlin and Grey Plover. Out at sea around 45 Common Scoters and 3 Goldeneye were the pick – otherwise it was cold, grey, windy and icy! Weld Road was next and there were no birds at all so I quickly left.
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At Marshside I parked up and walked along the road towards Crossens. Two female Merlins and a Peregrine were perched on posts or dead branches. I missed the male Hen Harrier though there were plenty of Pink-footed Geese and Little Egrets around. A very large flock of Linnets was also busy way out on the marsh. At Crossens Outer I chatted with John Dempsey who spotted a Short-eared Owl being mobbed by Crows. As we watched a second owl took to the air. I then walked back down and stopped to watch one of the Merlins chasing a Skylark. It was a superb spectacle with the lark performing moves similar to the Pugachev Cobra manoeuvre (something I witnessed from a Mig-29 at Farnborough many years ago) on three occasions just as I thought the Merlin would catch it – eventually the falcon gave up. A dark looking male Sparrowhawk was also seen on a couple of occasions.
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While I was watching the Merlin, Jonathan had driven past. He came back to the car park and after a brief natter we headed off to Hesketh Out Marsh. Here it was very grey, very cold and still windy. The pick of the birds were 9 Bewick’s Swans in a distant field with 113 Whoopers. I managed to completely miss a flock of around 40-50 Mipits but did get on to them later. Around the same number of Golden Plovers flew over before some landed in a field with Fieldfares and a couple of Redwings. A covey of 7 Grey Partridges also flushed and 2 Kestrels had a tiff. I then left Jonathan to it and while driving home past Nels. A female Sparrowhawk flew across the road in front of the car for the second time that day!
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30th December
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Fieldfare still present in the garden along with the male Bullfinch. While watching the field behind the garden from the bedroom window this morning I spotted a Raven being mobbed by three Crows. One of them actually struck the Raven causing it to somersault through the air – I soon lost them. Coveys of 8 and 10 Grey Partridges in Waterworks Lane and at HGF a big increase in aythya ducks with 66 Tufties and 14 Pochard this morning. I called in briefly at Moat Lane where a Stoat ran across the road carrying a small rodent. The pool was full of Coot and Mallard with around 36 Gadwall, a few Tufties and a single Teal. The tip was busy with gulls – I estimated 250+ Herring Gulls and a good few Greater Black-backed.
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31st December (today)
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A spur of the moment decision had me motoring over to Pugney’s CP this morning. I got a sudden urge to twitch two ducks of species’ that I have seen before in a place I have never visited – further I had to be back home for 11am. Crazy! I have known about their presence for days and not bothered until today.
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On arrival at PCP, I found that the various small pools where the Ferruginous Duck and Ring-necked Ducks had been seen were completely frozen. Consequently everything was on the main boating lake – a body of water similar in size to the main flash at Pennington. To complicate things further, there were around 700+ aythya ducks (mainly Pochard) scattered all over the water and most were asleep. I walked around to the far side as the light was in my eyes and was poor for a sunny day. When I scanned back, one sleeping black and white duck on the side I had vacated looked good for the Ring-necked Duck based on head shape and also dirty grey flanks with white wedge on the breast. The b*gger slept on! I walked further down and met Ian Campbell who was busy watching the fudge – it too was asleep though it did wake up briefly. A Kingfisher also sped by as I walked back round to my starting position to look for the sleeping RND. In very awkward light I again found the sleeping candidate and watched it for 20 minutes or so before it woke up and confirmed its identity.
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I did get home on time and in the garden today were the male Bullfinch, two Reed Buntings, 2 Tree Sparrows and the Fieldfare. The latter has, virtually alone, eaten nearly all the berries in this bush though it seems to be the only bird to really like them. I estimate it probably has 2 or 3 days of food left at best. It has now been present in the garden for 11 days! At the feeding station the coveys of 7 and 8 Grey Partridges met and had a scuffle – one bird absolutely leathered a Woodpigeon that got in the way and removed a lot of the pigeon’s breast feathers with some well-aimed kicks! A male Sparrowhawk also appeared – this is the 118 sighting of this species I have recorded in 2009 – a measure of how common they are. Or is it because I have provided them with a couple of all you can eat restaurants? The Tree Sparrow flock was again at around 70 birds.
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In the field opposite the feeding station were plenty of birds again with 14 Corn Buntings and 80+ Linnets plus 20+ Yellowhammers and various other finches. I visited HGF late afternoon today instead of the usual morning visit. I noticed John Tymon was getting higher Wigeon counts late in the day and sure enough today instead of 70 or so ducks I counted 96. Looks like some are using HGF purely as a roost site and moving elsewhere during the day. Still good numbers of aythya ducks too!
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And so ends 2009. Happy New Year everyone!

In the bleak midwinter....

The garden - the area at the back of the field behind the right one of the two apple trees is Waterworks Lane feeding station!

Breakfast time in the garden

Blackbird feeding in the garden

The champion Fieldfare in Cheshire - hard as nails this one!

Jackdaw thieving the peanuts

Moat Lane pool, Rixton

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Sunday afternoon in the snow I stupidly decided to take Billy for a walk around Shotwick Boating Lake. Stupid because a) I was ill and b) it was very windy and so all the boats had been out. Guess what – no birds! A few Redshanks were on the rocks around the edge and 4 Little Grebes were fishing – otherwise the water was devoid of life. Around the edge two groups of Linnets totalling around 150 birds were flitting around the fields surrounding the lake. 12 Fieldfares also dropped in – there were no signs of any swans in the surrounding area. Driving back across the bridge later I did see what could have been swans way out on the estuary – just too far away to be certain.
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Mid afternoon I set off back and decided to pop into Frodsham – mainly because I had been studying Peel Holdings plans for the wind farm here and wanted to get a feel for what would be disrupted. The future for Nos. 4 and 5 tanks doesn’t look too clever though No. 6 tank should be unaffected. Anyway on No. 5 tank in amongst the grazing sheep were 700+ Golden Plovers, around 280 Dunlin and 48 Curlews. I do like watching Golden Plovers and I much prefer them in winter plumage. No. 6 tank was largely frozen with the one small free patch of water crammed with Mallard and around 70 or so Teal.
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I drove around the track looking for raptors – although 4 Buzzards and 4 Kestrels were observed during my wander, I saw nothing else of interest. I have never seen a SEO here – it looks perfect for them around No. 2 tank and yet none ever show when I turn up. As I drove past No. 4 tank I remembered a Water Pipit had been seen around here so I got out and scanned the area. I remember Jonathan commenting on this flooded area in the summer that something good should drop in – it has!. It was very windy and keeping the scope still was problematic and the sun was shining directly into my eyes so viewing was difficult (heroic, herculean struggle to find the bird!!!!). I looked through the 45 or so Meadow Pipits a few times and saw nothing interesting when I remembered the Water Pipits I had recently watched at Blacktoft Sands had kept a good distance from the local Mipits. I looked in a few areas where there were no Mipits and sure enough I soon found the Water Pipit feeding on its own. Coincidence? It was a nice bird to watch, unfortunately too far away in the poor light to digiscope.
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Yesterday I worked from home due to a chest infection which is driving me nuts. Consequently I got to also watch the garden for a while and during the day I recorded 25 species doing something in the garden. The Chaffinch flock had increased to around 25 birds with 4 Reed Buntings also present. These were a surprise as I don’t normally see them in the garden until at least mid Jan. Three were present early this morning too. A Song Thrush was a welcome and now somewhat rare visitor – I do like these birds and thankfully it stuck around for a while.
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A Stock Dove joined the Chaffinches feeding away at the back, a male Sparrowhawk paid a couple of swift visits, a couple of Tree Sparrows were very welcome and all day there was activity somewhere. Over the last few days a Fieldfare has taken up residence in the large berry bush outside the conservatory. Although it is full of large orange berries in winter (I have never gotten around to identifying it), the local Blackbirds only seem to eat them as a last resort and then just a few at a time. The Fieldfare seems to like them, however, and spent all day chasing all comers out of the bush, including the local Mistle Thrushes. It has its work cut out though as at least 11 Blackbirds are keeping it busy – as soon as one is chased off another slips in behind the Fieldfare. Even when 10 other Fieldfares briefly visited this bird remained behind – it was back again first thing this morning!
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The birds in the garden today were:
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7+ Woodpigeons
17+ Collared Doves
1 Stock Dove
1 Feral Pigeon
2 Magpies
2 Rooks
4 Jackdaws
11 Fieldfares
3 Mistle Thrushes
7+ Blackbirds
1 Song Thrush
2 Robins
2 Dunnocks
1 Wren
3 Blue Tits
1 Great Tit
1 Coal Tit
1 Greenfinch
25+ Chaffinches
1 Goldfinch
4 Reed Buntings
1 Sparrowhawk
2 Tree Sparrows
2 House Sparrows
3 Starlings
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I only had a brief visit to the feeding station early afternoon. The Tree Sparrow numbers have been around 45 birds for the last couple of days and little was moving at the feeding area itself, despite fresh seed yesterday. It is clear that pigeons, Starlings and corvids are all now helping themselves. A few Fieldfares, 6 Stock Doves and 8 Grey Partridges did show. There was more interest in the field opposite though – the flock of around 130 Linnets was present in the strip near the water treatment works fence along with 47 Skylarks, at least 7 Corn Buntings, a Grey Wagtail and 25 Yellowhammers. This section of the field seemed to be alive! At HGF a drake Goldeneye was new.
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This morning on my way into work I spotted at least 10 Grey Partridges in the field in front of Frank’s Farm – just further down 2 Corn Buntings were fighting on the wires. At lunch I checked out Moat Lane pool again – still largely frozen with a narrow strip of free water across the middle. This was packed with 2 Mute Swans (one a ringed 3.5 yr old female which has spent most of her life around Congleton), a female Teal, 2 Little Grebes, 37 Mallards and 86 Coots plus 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, 15+ Herring, 8+ LBBG and 120+ BHG.

And there will be snow....

Common Gull, Newton Lake

Green-winged Teal at Wigan Flashes - late afternoon through the gloom and the snow!

Teal (Eurasian) at Newton Lake

And his Mrs...

Corn Bunting, Waterworks Lane. Photographed by John Tymon using my camera.

Pair of Bullfinches in the garden

Dunlin, Houghton Green Flash

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Yesterday birding was restricted to what I could see from work (Glazebrook). Early afternoon while on the phone in the car park I was surprised but delighted to watch a Woodcock fly through. Later while in a meeting I watched over 1000 Woodpigeons fly past the window - sorry boss but what was that again?

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This morning I started off with a trip to HGF - as soon as I arrived I spotted a small wader hanging around with the wintering Redshank. It turned out to be a Dunlin - a rare visitor to HGF at any time of year and the first one I have seen here in winter. The Wigeon flock still numbers 68 birds though there were more aythya ducks today - 21 Tufties and 6 Pochard. The Buzzard was perched in its usual tree at the corner of the kennels and a flock of around 35 Linnets flew through. Three Fieldfares were feeding in the south hedge.

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After this I went over to the feeding station. I had put plenty of seed down in mid week - this morning it had attracted 85+ Tree Sparrows. Also present were a Stock Dove, a hen Pheasant, 6 Dunnocks, 2 Robins, a Fieldfare, a Blackbird, 6 Woodies, 40+ Starlings and at least 6 Yellowhammers. Later they were joined by the covey of Grey Partridges, 2 Greenfinches and at least 9 Chaffinches. And then it was spoiled by a black moggy which turned up for breakfast!

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John Tymon then arrived and we sat chatting while the local falconer released and promptly lost his Peregrine hybrid. Seven Corn Buntings perched in the hedge opposite us while 25+ Skylarks buzzed over. I left John to it and headed for home. I called in briefly late afternoon to find the Buzzard perched in the hedge and little else on show.

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Late morning I managed a quick 10 mins at Newton Lake while taking Karen to the hairdressers. The pool is mostly frozen - 46 Teal were present plus the escaped female Harris' Hawk and a single adult Common Gull.

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Late afternoon I took Billy for a walk and decided to head for Wigan Flashes. I thought the Green-winged Teal would probably be long gone - however after a week sitting at a computer or in a car I needed a good walk. It was dark, grey and gloomy and was snowing. There were very few people around and the place had that silent shush feel that snow brings to places. At Horrocks Flash it was largely frozen with the exception being a small pool around one of the islands at the back. Hundreds of water fowl and Coots etc were congregated here. In the gloom I scanned through the Teal twice and failed to spot anything interesting. I then scanned a third time and spotted a roosting bird behind several other Teal which didn't seem to have the yellow borders to the head markings. It was very difficult to tell for certain, however I watched this bird for around 20 minutes and sure enough it finally stood up and moved into the open revealing itself to be a drake Green-winged Teal. Marvellous! I also really enjoyed the walk!

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In the garden today the stars were a pair of Bullfinches on the feeders. 17 Chaffinches, 9 Blackbirds and 24 Collared Doves also visited, however there were no Goldfinches, Greenfinches or any tits on the feeders. A pair of House Sparrows were also very welcome - I am still struggling to find these birds in Winwick - worrying!