19th February

A nice start to the day and the River Teme had (just) retreated back into its proper course so a walk along the muddy banks produced 3 Green Sandpipers, 3 Goosander, 2 Herons, 6 Little Egrets, 5 Mistle Thrush and a Grey Wagtail.   It then started to rain again so I headed to Venus Pool (somewhere with hides!) but it was pretty similar to last time I was there, as birds of note included 23 Shoveler, 2 Pochard, a flock of 52 Wigeon over to the east, 115 Lapwing, 43+ Snipe, the male Brambling again at the feeders along with two bright, male Lesser Redpolls and 90+ Yellowhammers in the top fields.

Lesser Redpoll launching his attack