Monday 11th February

Capitalising on the continued good weather I decided to do my BTO atlas count on the research station. There are still good numbers of winter thrushes on site, but they're predominatly feeding in open ground now and take flight at the first sight of movement, the silvery underwings of the Fieldfares glinting in the sun and interspersed with the ochre red of a few Redwings. Only 2 Barnacle Geese were present amongst the mixed Greylag and Canada Goose flock. A total of 36 species were noted in the hour, not bad for a lunchtime walk, but as always a few species were noticeable by their abscence - particularly House Sparrow, Kestrel and Pied Wagtail that I'm sure to see any other day of the year! In terms of numbers Wood Pigeon that dominanted the list, outstripping the Fieldfares by at least double.