January 2016

A nice selection of images from January.

Common Buzzard on the shore.

 Collared Dove looking forward to spring.

 Cormorant drying it's wings.

 Grey Heron posing.

 Great Northern Diver with a crab.

 Goldcrest - stunning.

 Goosander in a flap.

 Iceland Gull at the hatchery.

 Jackdaw eyeing things up.

 This Knot was a good find in January.

 Little Auks were storm driven but soon moved back out to sea.

 Merlin is usually seen flying off so this sitter was a bit special.

 Plenty of Otter sightings...

 ...and a few cubs around too.

 A few flocks of Redwing are fairly easy to find this winter.

 The sun lights up the landscape as it sets - that's when you see the sun!

 A White-tailed Eagle on a dull day.

 This White-tailed Eagle landed next to the car - fantastic!

End of October

It all comes around too quick! The year list stands at 142 but the Patchwork Challenge is suffering now, only two new birds in October - Long-tailed Tit and Whooper swan - which leaves the totals at 105 species and 131 points.
In an effort to increase the PC list I spent a bit of time looking for Brambling but the searching was put on hold while I took a few snaps of these WT Eagle sitting in a tree.

Next up was to check some garden feeders. What looks like a Bank Vole filled in some time...

...a distant Hen Harrier flew past...

...while the feeders produced plenty of sightings of Robin...

...Blue Tit...

...Blackbird...

...and Collared Dove.

Naturally, there were Chaffinch, Great Tit, Coal Tit and Greenfinch around too but there was no sign of any Brambling to boost the score! A Grey Heron was blending in well in it's normal winter fishing spot.