27th January

An early walk along my usual stretch of the River Teme at Leintwardine in fine conditions produced 2 Dippers by the bridge, 2 Green Sandpipers, 10 Little Egrets, a female Goosander and a flock of 26 Siskin before birds at Venus Pool included the first returning Oystercatcher and two Shelduck, 40 Shoveler, 6 Gadwall, 6 Pochard, 12 Snipe, 85 Lapwing and a good selection of birds in the crop fields comprising 70+ Chaffinches, 60+ Yellowhammers and 25+ Reed Buntings.   There were disappointingly hardly any Gulls on any of the Telford lakes but there were 6 Goosander and a Kingfisher (an overdue year tick!) at Priorslee Flash and 9 Goosanders on Horsehay Pool before a much more profitable walk around Benthall Pools produced a single Jack Snipe with an epic 63 Snipe, 8 Teal and 4 Coots back on territory (absent from this site during autumn and early winter).

Dipper at dawn

Goosanders

Tufted Ducks