Tuesday 19th January

What a difference a few days make! I meant to do a write-up on Friday but in the end didn't have time and then I was away for a couple of days and when I came back what had been a veritable lake of water has suddenly shrunk significantly and is now frozen over during this sudden reversion to more seasonal weather.

In terms of birds I'm enjoying chipping away at the year list and have steadily been winkling out the usual suspects. It's all common stuff but it's nice to re-acquaint oneself with the likes of Treecreeper, Stock Dove, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare and Meadow Pipit. I did spot a splendid PEREGRINE harrassing the ducks on the floods last week and Friday produced some good birds with 8 SHELDUCK, 5 REDSHANK, 8 GOOSANDER and 11 PINTAIL all frequenting what was then the huge flood. Perhaps the best bird though was what was almost certainly a 2nd or 2rd winter CASPIAN GULL that I had last week. It was quite close on a narrow strip of grass on the far bank and immediately stood out when I scanned through with my bins but before I could get my scope on it it had flown off so I wasn't able to get any photos.

There are quite a few Common Gulls about at present

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