Largest Winter Count of Tree Sparrows So Far, 1st December 2008

I visited my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss this morning to feed and boy was it cold! The first bird I had was the usual Grey Wagtail running around on the tailing's outside the barn.I then went down the track to put some food out. The numbers of Tree Sparrows had definitely increased and I had a cracking total of 257! There were a few Blackbirds feeding on the apples and in total I had 9. The only other thrushes I had were single Fieldfare and Mistle Thrush.

Raptors were represented by two each of Buzzard and Kestrel. I tried calling to one of the Buzzards that was very close, but this time it didn't respond. The prize for the most numerous bird today went to Starling with 1,447 counted and second Woodpigeon with 1,148 counted. Most of the Starlings were moving through on their way to feed and the majority of the Woodpigeons were roosting in Curlew and the 'L' Wood.

Other finches and Buntings included 14 Chaffinch, 2 Yellowhammers, 8 Corn Buntings and 4 Reed Buntings. Skylarks had increased in numbers to 16, probably brought in by the cold weather.

On my office window feeders this afternoon besides the usual suspects I had 9 Long-tailed Tits crammed on to the peanut feeder!

Below are a couple of pictures of...well I don't think I need to tell you what they are...of Snow Owl in the hand, sent to me by mate Nigel from Canada. I really like the close up of the eye on the first picture. One of those one morning when out birding would certainly brighten things up a bit!