3rd January 2021

My parish list for 2020 finished on 106 species, about average for recent years although I missed a couple of ‘easy’ species. First bird of 2021 was…Blackbird. Not surprising given we had a crowd of 20 feeding in our small garden, particularly attracted by the fallen Siberian crab apples. More surprisingly there were two Redwings with them, we rarely get this species in the garden. They are much the scarcer of the two winter thrushes in the parish but there have been reasonable numbers feeding in the fields this week…

We also had three Bullfinches in the garden…

And a couple of Fieldfares…

There have been some quite extensive floods around the village, this is one of my favourite views  

Probably a good representation of a typical winter view before the post war drainage. Unfortunately the water didn’t attract very much, with a pair of Wigeon amongst the Mallard flock and a couple of young Mute Swans the highlights. The floodwater then froze putting an end to hopes of a rarer duck although it didn’t put the gulls off…

And I also saw a Hare running across the frozen water. It made a fantastic sound on the ice, like a flock of Waxwings! Other mammal sightings included six Roe Deer on Langlands and a Weasel here. Although I see Stoats with some regularity I haven’t spotted their smaller cousin for three or four years. I first saw it climbing up the trunk of a tree but despite it constantly returning to look me over it was so active that I could only manage this one poor photo…

Finally a couple of walks along the river turned up two Little Egret,  a group of six Goosander, three Mute Swan, 30 Mallard and a single Wigeon. Three Oystercatchers and a group of 13 Golden Plover were the only waders and a single Grey Wagtail the only passerine of note...