Notable for today was the single Jackdaw seen flying ENE from the west just before lunchtime. It's the first I've ever seen anywhere near here.

A cold morning with frost on the ground brought a pair of Blue Tit and a single Coal Tit to the feeders. Later, two Blue Tit were seen feeding along the grill under the eves again. A single Greenfinch visited our tree briefly, but returned later to feed for a few minutes on the feeder. Then one was seen feeding in the late afternoon. Hopefully they'll start to visit more regularly again. A Sparrowhawk was over the woods flying in a slightly off manner, making jerky turns in flight - possibly some part of a display? A good day, with 18 different species recorded, including a Kestrel, three tits and three finches, but no gulls.

A reasonable day for the garden with 15 species recorded thanks to an early visit to our feeder from a Coal Tit. A Blue Tit made first use of the new log feeder, staying long enough for a photo (but I didn't get one!). Single sightings of the two typical gulls - Black-headed Gull and Common Gull - also helped the day list, and a pair of Goldfinch made a fleeting visit to the feeder before lunch.

Another relatively quiet day. Of note was a skein of 19 wildfowl flying west in a skewed V-shape at around 9:50am: most probably of Canada Goose, but too far away to tell. A single Common Gull was seen nearer lunchtime.

A much quieter day today, with nothing but the typical birds seen. The feeder still fails to attract much attention with only a pair of Collared Dove and a single Blue Tit seen feeding from it today. Checking the normal Goldfinch roost provided a surprise, as the tree was gone! It seems as if the owners have either removed it entirely, or cut it well back, since none of it is visible from our house now. At sunset there were plenty of Goldfinch flying around where it used to be, and the pink-blossomed cherry tree in the school seems to have been adopted as a replacement. Two Long-tailed Tit were also moving through the nearby gardens at around 5pm.

After yesterday's Buzzard sightings, I would have liked to keep an eye out for more today, since the weather was practically identical. However, today I actually had to go into work, so I wasn't counting on much luck with the garden list. How wrong I was.

The first notable sighting was a Great Tit perched at the top of a tree at the edge of the woods; they rarely venture out to the gardens at this distance. At around 10:35 I caught sight of a Cormorant (garden tick) flying north over the woods out of the front window. When it passes behind the side of the house I rushed to the back window in an attempt to see it reappear, but it was too low (or too far) to see. In opening the window to get a better view, I heard a Skylark singing over the Pit Top (garden tick) and wondered if it would be high enough to see from the house. After a little searching I managed to locate it, seeing a single Great Black-backed Gull (heading north) in the process.

Rescanning the sky I picked up on a large (100+) flock of birds in the distance to the north west. This was shortly joined by another flock of equally-large size. They appeared to be roughly circling, but the movement reminded me more like a large flock of Starling going to roost. They were too big for Starling though and often, when changing direction, a shimmer like flash would appear as they caught the sunlight. I got the overall impression of a wader species, such as Lapwing or maybe even Golden Plover, but they may have been just Black-headed Gull. Nevertheless, it was interesting to watch them for a few minutes, until they disappeared behind the horizon.

At 11:15 a male Kestrel flew almost directly over and to the north. It hovered over the Pit Top for some time before disappearing over the woods. A short while before I had to leave 3 Dunnock were seen together on the ridge tiles of a nearby house, probably a female getting twice as much attention as she needs!

Two Blue Tit were calling and moving along the vent/grill [see photo] under the eves of our roof this morning at around 9am. They seemed to be feeding in a machine-like manner, sometimes hanging on and sometimes hovering. The blinds were almost closed, allowing close range views (approx. 1ft).

A single Buzzard was over the woods at 10:10am, showing well for about a minute drifting west towards the Pit Top. Another (probably the same bird) was seen just after 4pm, gliding from east to west over the woods and showing well in the afternoon sun.

Plenty of Sparrowhawk sightings today with the clear blue skies. One at 6:50, then 8:50, another before lunch, then one at 13:50 high up at the back, and another very high up over the woods. At 11:00, a group of 4 Long-tailed Tit were moving through the gardens calling. One of them visited our tree briefly; the first garden visit since recording started. Almost no gull records all day, with no Black-headed Gull, which is the first no show since they arrived, and only a single Common Gull - very odd. The Goldfinch seem to be roosting in the nearby tree again, with 5+ of them seen this evening.

A pair of Long-tailed Tit were feeding in the adjacent garden, and were also seen in the silver birch tree of the school. It's been over a week since I've seen any Goldfinch roosting in the nearby tree. There was no sign this evening, but the strong winds might be to blame (20mph). There's been plenty of recent Dunnock sightings with lots of tail-flicking going on.

A Blue Tit was clinging to the wall looking in at us from the bedroom window this morning! It was exploring the eves of our roof. There have been many more sightings of Magpie recently; usually in the tops of trees at the edge of the woods. Not a great day for birds - all sightings were in the early morning, due to near-constant rain the rest of the day.

A single male Chaffinch was the highlight of the day. It was seen flying to and in the large oak tree at the front.

A nice sunny day gave good views of a Pied Wagtail at the school, and a Sparrowhawk hunting. An unidentified thrush sp. was in the large oak tree.

Brief views of a probable Sparrowhawk were had in the morning, and good numbers of House Sparrow were in the conifers. A group of 13 Black-headed Gull were circling the Pit Top, and 3+ Common Gull were over the school field. A group of 4 Goldfinch visited our tree, but not the feeder.

February in Summary

The first week of February produced a Common Buzzard over the woods on the 2nd, and saw the long-awaited return of Long-tailed Tit visiting the nearby gardens on the 7th.

A pair of Collared Dove have become quite regular visitors towards the end of the month. They always visit in a pair and enjoy eating seed from the feeder tray, and have even sunbathed on it. They often perch on the fence by the tree, and will now come down onto the patio to feed on the seed fallen from the feeders.

Gull numbers have increased throughout the month with Black-headed Gull and Common Gull being daily sightings, probably roosting in the school fields nearby. Another increase came in the form of both Dunnock and Robin sightings, which have increased in frequency since their additions to the garden list last month.

This month has seen a marked decrease in finch visits to the garden, particularly Greenfinch, which have only been seen on the feeder once throughout the whole month. Goldfinch visits have been more frequent, but far less so than in previous months. However, I have discovered a regular Goldfinch roost in a nearby tree, which I can partially seen from the house. Typical numbers seen roosting were in the low teens, and the record of 16+ was on the 16th.

The most notable bird was the single Waxwing on the 25th, which was first seen at around 3pm in a distant tree with a group of Starlings. Ten seconds later it was gone. A single bird was at our local supermarket for over a week, but the last sighting was a week previous, so there was a reasonable chance. After scanning all the treetops (without success) trying to relocate it, I was about to give up. Just then it landed on the lamp post right outside my bedroom window and hungs around for about 15 minutes - a great day!