December - Round Two

Yesterday afternoon I completed the second half of my December visit for my wintering bird survey. It started off with clear skies, with quite a biting southwesterly wind, and ended up at dusk with virtually full cloud cover.

The area of farmland with associated woodland, ditches, hedgerows etc has become progressively quieter, other than for Geese, as the winter has progressed, which isn't really a surprise. Some of the highlights included 480 Pink-footed Geese, two Buzzards, 53 Goldfinches, three Stock Doves, 17 Skylarks, a Jay, a Goldcrest and a Grey Wagtail.

 Pink-footed Goose

At one of my vantage points there is a small patch of scrub to the right and a Coal Tit popped up on top of some Willow with a peanut in its bill. It then flew to the area of woodland behind me, and I don't doubt it was going to cache it!

I've got various things to do over the next couple of days, so it might well be Friday before I'm out again.