Friday December 26

A year-tick at last, and almost as soon as I had stepped out of the car. In fact I was changing into my wellies when a little group of seven large Gulls flew by, and four of them were Great Black-backed Gulls. Rather conveniently one was an adult (the others first-winters) and they were with Herring Gulls, a useful size comparison. Less helpfully my camera was in a bag in the boot, and I judged I would not have time to get it out and get a shot away. These were my first Greater Black-backs here since Nov 2012.

The photo-list then had another near miss as I chased a Goldcrest along a hedge by the car. I managed several shots but each just shows bits of Goldcrest. If I could piece them together I might have a whole bird!

Never mind, the grey still morning was rather frosty, and I was pleased to find no evidence of sportsmen, so I had the place to myself. The pair of Stonechats was still present, the pool was largely unfrozen but only contained five Teal among the usual Mallard, Canada Geese, and two Mute Swans.

The field behind the pool was covered in frost and contained a little flock of Skylarks.

Skylark

I counted 28 in the field and later flushed more giving a total of 48. Pretty typical numbers. I decided to return along the road, and this allowed me to see a Treecreeper, a couple of Marsh Tits, and a Nuthatch hammering away at the bark of a tree. I suspected it had wedged a nut or acorn in there.

Nuthatch

So the addition of Great Black-backed Gull brings my personal total up to a paltry 110 species for the year, seven or eight short of my usual score.