Wednesday January 1

So here we are, another decade same place. I was out pretty early and was pleased to find it wasn't foggy despite a complete lack of wind. The heavy cloud cover made photographing anything difficult.

I got my tactics wrong today. A slow saunter down to the south end produced stacks of thrushes, with about 280 Redwings and about a dozen Fieldfares. The usual Peregrine was perched on the pylons and at least three Kestrels hunted from saplings and posts.

Kestrel

One or two Lesser Redpolls flew around, a male sitting obligingly above me as I walked along the road.

Lesser Redpoll

Walking down to the marsh, I noticed that the Tawny Owl was peeking at me.

Tawny Owl

A short squelch across the marsh produced eight Snipe and six Jack Snipe, but nothing else. The ringers have left their feeders up so I spent a considerable time ticking off Marsh Tit, three Stonechats, and Long-tailed Tits.

As I set off in the direction of the flash field I was dismayed to see a pile of ducks in flight. I was able to pick out a Shelduck among the Mallard, and several smaller ducks too distant to identify with any confidence. I was not too surprised to see a dog-walker being towed along the path in front of the field. Later on I noticed she had let her boxer off its leash, and no doubt she had done so just before the ducks all headed off.

With no sign that anything was going to come back I was left with about 40 Mallard and three Teal to look at.

By the time I had returned to the car my list was one species less than my last visit despite my having put in far more effort this morning.

I am not taking part in Patchwork Challenge this year, and if this morning is anything to go by, its just as well.