LBJ.

Just a few photos of those Little Brown Jobs that people try to overlook. I was standing outside the house and noticed there were a few Little Brown Jobs wandering around...

...and they were joined by 3 other, slightly larger, Little Brown Jobs

Getting a bit further afield I came across a long legged Big Little Brown Job on the grass...

...and another Little Brown Job on the shore.

A Little Brown Job that isn't a Little Brown Job was moving one of the other Little Brown Jobs around.

Hopefully that should clear up any problems with Little Brown Jobs and how to identify them - the book should be in the shops....never;-) From the top they are Meadow Pipit, Skylark, a Curlew struggling against the wind, a classic Rock Pipit and a female Stonechat. Mr Stonechat could never be an LBJ!

Wishful thinking.

Most people find February a bit slow for the year list as you have seen most of what is around, but March is much, much worse...until the migrants start to arrive. Needless to say I've not seen any yet and the only tick for the patchwork challenge has been Eider duck. The sky may have been blue but the wind was strong and the search for a Wheatear was fruitless. A couple of Stonechat hopped on and off the fence trying to imitate something different or, more likely, me doing some wishful thinking! A couple of Common Snipe burst out of a wet flush as I passed by.

Certain things are fairly easy to come by but the supporting cast can be a bit thin on the ground at times. Number of species isn't too bad but actual number of birds can be low. This must be one of the few places where the likes of a Coot or Moorhen can cause a stir and Canada Geese are not the park pests that they are further south.

There were plenty of Rock Pipit working through the seaweed. The number of these birds present is a sure sign of spring approaching as they can be difficult to come across in the depths of winter.

A GBB Gull and a few Hooded Crows were plundering some crabs that had been left on the shore. The Hoodies were just flying in...

...picking up a prize and heading off elsewhere to feed.

Blue.

No change in the chilly conditions but there was a bit of sunshine. Just as I was leaving the garden a couple of Blue Tit turned up at the feeders so I hung around for a bit. It was difficult to get a clear shot at either bird when they left the feeders but I managed a couple of decent ones.

The Golden Plover were a bit closer to the road but with the blustery wind it was never going to be easy to get some shots. Not the of best of shots but it was nice to get the Lapwing flying past too.

Most of the GN Divers are starting to sport a bit of summer plumage now.

I have noticed there is a distinct lack of frogspawn this year. There is still time for them to appear but at the moment there is about a 50% reduction of spawn in the pools. The only Frog that I came across was in the talons of a Buzzard - it's not just people that eat frogs legs!

The Buzzard was taking it's time to eat it's meal so I headed off.

It was nice to catch this Mistle Thrush on a post as they are normally on the ground or perched in a tree.

Bird of the day had to be the Treecreeper that hung around long enough for me to get the camera and grab a couple of shots.