Tuesday 6th March

Redwing

Today I could only watch the patch from 9 - 10:30am, which was pretty good recording 41 species within that time and a nice variety of birds to go with it, more than I can say for the photography with very poor light and showery rain it was certainly difficult at the best of times, however there was a few good grounded birds along with a slight vis mig. On entering the main cemetery there was 3 Firecrests showing well by the crem followed by 4 Chiffchaffs which spent most of the time chasing each other around. A wander over towards the cement works produced 2 Crossbills west, 1 Brambling west, 3 Cormorants north/west and most of the 43 Chaffinches recorded, with the nearby paddocks producing 5 Grey Partridges and 1 Golden Plover. Other bits noted were 2 Goldcrests, 6 Redwings, 2 Fieldfares, 1 Sparrowhawk, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 Green Woodpeckers, 35 Starlings, 38 Magpies, 6 Mistle Thrushes, 10 Greenfinches, 1 Linnet, 6 Meadow Pipits, 1 Kestrel, 3 Ring-necked Parakeets, 10 Stock Doves, 1 Rook, 1 Common Gull, 60 Black-headed Gulls, 500+ Wood Pigeons, 10 Song Thrushes (the best count for some time), 20 Blackbirds and 1 Skylark.    

Saturday 3rd March

Long-tailed Tit

Today I couldn't get out until 2pm and left just before 4pm, but on arrival I heard the gulls going completely bonkers over the cement works/horse paddocks, straight away I headed off in that direction in the hope of finding something good but by the time I got there the gulls had gone more silent and started to drift away in a westerly direction. I scanned the area for a good 10 minutes but unfortunately could not find anything of interest. After that brief spell I continued on in the cemo to which I recorded 1 Firecrest, 4 Chiffchaffs, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Goldcrests, 6 Long-tailed Tits, 10 Chaffinches, 7 Goldfinches, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 30 Starlings, 1 Meadow Pipit and 4 Mistle Thrushes.    

Friday 2nd March

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Who turned all the lights off, well that's what it felt like today. This morning and much of the afternoon was blanketed in fog making life a bit difficult on the birding front. Both Dave and I spent about 3 hours wandering around trying to get what we could and in the end it didn't turn out that bad. Best of all was a Firecrest and 3 Chiffchaffs near the crematorium, followed by 8 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 8 Green Woodpeckers in the cemo. The paddocks was a waste of time as we couldn't see anything, as was the allotments so we stayed where we were and finished off with 7 Goldcrests, 160 Starlings, 10 Redwings, 20 Chaffinches, 7 Linnets, 7 Goldfinches, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 7 Jays, 6 Mistle Thrushes but no House Sparrows.

Thursday 1st March

Red Admiral

Well its certainly been a good start to 2012, and today was another good day, Dave and I covered the area from 8:20am - 12:45pm, recording a record breaking 17 Great Spotted Woodpeckers where 15 birds were seen heading off in a westerly direction between 9:10 - 9:50am, and included a group of 7 in the garden of rest. Another good record was shortly before when 3 Peregrines were noted heading south at 9:05am. In total there was 40 species today which also included 6 Green Woodpeckers, 2 Firecrests, 4 Chiffchaffs (including 2 singing birds), 1 Reed Bunting north/west, 7 Redwings, 15 Jackdaws, 15 Chaffinches, 7 Goldcrests, 54 Starlings, 7 Linnets, 13 Skylarks, 3 Meadow Pipits, 1 Sparrowhawk, 3 Corn Buntings, 1 Kestrel, 7 Goldfinches, 2 Ring-necked Parakeets, 17 Stock Doves, 2 Pied Wagtails, 2 Long-tailed Tits, 30 Magpies, 4 Mistle Thrushes, 2 Rooks, 20 Blackbirds, 700 Wood Pigeons, 200 Black-headed Gulls and 3 Common Gulls. There was also 1 Red Admiral Butterfly.