Wednesday December 27

After a night of heavy rain which readily turned to snow I splashed my way to the patch. The pool was the most flooded I had ever seen it, and the fields to the west were also somewhat saturated.

All this meant that there were an awful lot of birds to see. The variety was nothing special, two Peregrines and a Stonechat were still present, while a Mute Swan and a Wigeon were new arrivals. About 30 Redpolls were reasonably visible.

Lesser Redpoll

The flash field contained a Green Sandpiper, a Lapwing, and 14 Teal. More unexpected were 13 Pied Wagtails and 20 Meadow Pipits.

Meanwhile 103 Stock Doves remain in the area and at least three well stocked feeders at Netherstead were a hive of Blue Tit activity (25+) with smaller numbers of other tits and Goldfinches.

The field to the west of Stapenhill Wood was full of Jackdaws and other corvids, at least 613 of the former being counted. The pools in the field had attracted about 30 Black-headed Gulls and 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

These picture give some idea of the spectacle, and you need to bear in mind I took nine shots all containing different parts of the flock.