Swans dominated the sightings again this week. I had a working from home bonus of a skein of 12 Whoopers over the garden on Thursday (and a flock of 50 Golden Plover). Then walking down Potter Lane yesterday I saw a distant herd of swans in the mist. I assumed they were the Mutes from last week...

When I got closer they turned out to be mainly Whoopers with 21 counted, an excellent total for the parish. Less positively there were only two immature birds amongst them.  

Also here were around 60 Greylags and four Shelduck and a skein of Pinkfeet flew north over the field.

To show how quickly things turn over, Andy walked down here today and there were only five Whoopers (three adults and two youngsters) but there was a single Pinkfoot now feeding with the geese.

To round it off I had five Whoopers flying out of the mist low over Morton this afternoon.

Yesterday’s low temperatures brought ten Teal on to the river and in the frozen ground the good old steaming muck heap here was a real focus for birds with a very nice flock of 60+ Tree Sparrows…

A few hundred Starlings, half a dozen Pied Wagtails and a smart Grey Wagtail…

Talking of muckheaps this is a phenomenon I have seen a number of times in the village…

I assume it’s spiders webs but I must try and find out what causes it.

Finally I had brief views of a Chiffchaff by the railway in Morton this afternoon. It gave a distinctly different call but unfortunately I lost it in the misty conditions. Hopefully it might hang around for closer scrutiny.