Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Happy New Year

Not a proper days birding but a few walks out with Jane and Bunty with a running total kept along the way.

In total 50 species were recorded 'on foot from home' which is about what I would expect to get, however, a few common species were missing that must be lurking somewhere - Collared Dove, Mallard, Shag, Cormorant, Fulmar, Buzzard, Yellowhammer, Goldeneye, Treecreeper, Nuthatch etc.

I think the biggest stumbling block for getting a full 'expected' list here is that the daylight hours are not long enough even on days with good weather. Not to worry, these birds and others will drop into place soon.

The days highlights were a good late passage south of Pink footed Geese with 75, 40, 46, 25 and 22 all going south, a scattering of Crossbills with 1 and 6 over home and 10+ at the burn mouth and a flock of 10+ Bar tailed Godwits flying north seen from the pub window at Craster!

The day ended with a few Tawny Owls in full hoot heard from the drive.

I checked our local copse to see if the Snowdrops were flowering yet but they weren't, maybe another week or so. Last year they were out on 2nd January.

Well, it's back to work tomorrow with the likelyhood of a few days off next week...

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