A frosty start to New Year's Day with some light snow for a while made it feel like it was definitely winter. The temperature never rose above 2 degrees all day. With tier 4 restrictions in place, much of my new year birding will have to be done locally, starting with my own garden.
During the course of the day, I saw most of the usual visitors, including dunnocks ( four of them was a high tally for my garden), robin, great tit, blue tits, crow, blackbirds, starlings, goldfinches, wood pigeons and house sparrows. I also had a first fieldfare of the winter in my garden, feasting on the fallen apples. In the early afternoon I headed out to Stanton Country Park for a walk in the fresh air and to add a few more species to my new year list. The feeding stations seem to be regularly topped up at the moment, though some of the food looks at bit odd-- I'm sure there were balls of stuffing there today!! I have found that the woodland birds have a preference for peanuts so I usually take some with me to add to the tables. After putting a few out, I waited and was able to add coal tit and marsh tit, ( but no nuthatch) as well as a tree creeper and chaffinch. I could also hear and see jackdaws high up in the trees.
On the lake which was nearly completely frozen over, were clustered a few mallards and swans with a few blackheaded gulls. So a day's total of 18.
(photos from yesterday)
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