19th January

A few hours out at the coast produced good views of the brutish wintering 2cy Viking Gull (Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid) at Burghead Harbour, good views of two Waxwings in Elgin with c20 other seen flying in the distance and good numbers of birds offshore at Findhorn Bay including Great-northern Divers, 3 Slavonian Grebes, Velvet Scoters, Common Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Eiders etc.

Viking Gull

Rock Pipit

17th and 18th January

Had a good couple of days up in the Highlands on my way back up to North Ronaldsay, it was gorgeous in the light snow which fell the day before and the bright, clear sunshine, very cold though getting down to -8 at night.   Highlights included my first UK Capercaillie with decent flight views of a female and brief views of a male as I flushed them from trees along a track somewhere above Carrbridge, a few Crested Tits scattered around the place and a 2cy Golden Eagle in the hills up Strathdearn where there was also a Peregrine and good numbers of Red Grouse.  

Other bits comprised several Red Squirrels and plenty of Coal Tits, Treecreepers, Siskins, Redpolls and Bullfinches – which were kind of interesting as many of them were feeding out in the snow-covered Heather as well as a couple seen flying high south, high up over a bare moorland covered hillside, may they be continental birds as this doesn’t seen like British birds behaviour?

Crested Tit

Golden Eagle

Red Grouse

Treecreeper

Bullfinches

12th January

A good day around Rutland Water produced some good highlights; we started off at Burley Fish Ponds where birds included 3 Slavonian Grebes, 2 Black-necked Grebes, at least 3 Great White Egrets, c30 Golden Plover with a huge flock of Lapwings and plenty of the usual wildfowl including Egyptian Geese, Wigeon, Goosander, Gadwall etc.   Also of note was great views of a big dog Otter on the bunds and in the water around the fish ponds.   We then walked the usual route around the reserve hides where highlights included a drake Smew, good views of a Water Rail in front of one of the hides, a female Marsh Harrier, several distant Red Kites, at least 3 more Great White Egrets, a sleeping Jack Snipe right in front of one of the hides, another Otter swimming across a lagoon and big numbers of birds in the south arm as viewed from a hide including a Great-northern Diver and a female Scaup with a huge flock of Tufted Ducks.

Bullfinch

SPURN - 11th January

A few hours round Spurn in the middle of the day after returning from a long and tiring few days in Amsterdam produced a drake Green-winged Teal on Holderness Field, a Short-eared Owl and the Greenshank on Beacon Ponds along with 4 Goldeneye, the 7 Whooper Swans in the fields and just 2 Black-tailed Godwits on the Humber.

Green-winged Teal

Goldeneye

SPURN - 7th January

A windy day around Spurn was pretty quiet as birds included a Greenshank on Beacon Ponds along with 2 Goldeneye, a drake Gadwall and 5 Shoveler, the single White-fronted Goose with 7 Whooper Swans along Easington Straight, 26 Black-tailed Godwits on the Humber, at least 4 Sparrowhawks about the place and plenty of Tree Sparrows.

Sparrowhawk

5th January

A little walk around Rufford Country Park in the afternoon didn’t produce too much of note with a drake Mandarin the highlight along with a few Gadwall and Goosander, more notable though were two colour ringed Black-headed Gulls with the big flocks coming to bread with Black / White V77K from Denmark and Black / White EUM3 From The Netherlands.

Dutch ringed Black-headed Gull

Pochard

4th January

A fine day with not a cloud in the sky through the morning, a walk along the River Teme produced the highlight of good but brief views of an Otter moving upstream under Leintwardine Bridge (despite having seen tracks and spraints many times, this is the first one I’ve seen here), birds included 3 Green Sandpipers, 4 Little Egrets and a Grey Wagtail.   I then walked up and around the Long Mynd in the afternoon where the highlight was good but distant views of several Red Grouse, mainly in the area around the top of Ashes Hollow as well as several other pairs flushed before being seen as I wandered around, other birds included a male Merlin chasing a Skylark far in the distance on the other side of Cardingmill Valley and several pairs of Stonechat.

                A look at Venus Pool on the way back then produced some decent duck counts on the partially frozen pools including 12 Shelduck, 54 Shoveler, 22 Gadwall, a drake Pintail, 40 Wigeon and 50 Teal as well as 39+ Snipe.

Otter at Leintwardine Bridge

Little Egret