25th and 26th January

Back on patch Friday night as the light was fading and yet again Short eared owl, Tawny Owl and Barn Owl. Many Geese coming into roost mainly Greylag and Canada but with 28 White fronted Geese.Saturday a large circular of the patch only hosted an Adult Med Gull, 2 White-fronted Geese with the Greylags. Rock Pipits, but it was nice to see a Spoonbill feeding on the scrape. Finally the group of Fallow deer stayed long enough for a quick photo.

Thats all i got to do that day but Sunday a quick circular of the patch, nothing of note so nipped to Woodbridge for lunch. Lots of Black tailed Godwit, 14 Little Grebe with some Dunlin, Redshank and Brent Geese all on the Deben.
Moved onto Landgaurd point to see the lovely Purple Sandpiper, a nice Rock Pipit and a nice Adult Med gull.

17th, 18th and 19th Hollesley

Brambling in the garden was a first, a nice male.
On patch finally managed a picture of the Water pipit.

2 Whooper Swan and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, Firecrest showed well opposite Shelbys Cafe sign again.
65 Black tailed Godwit, 2 Barn Owl, 1 Short Eared Owl, 47 White-fronted geese.

An impressive 18 Tundra Bean Geese visited fields again.

6 Brown Hare was my record number. 

Today i found out my Eastern Stonechat was infact Siberian Stonechat (maurus) Identified from DNA.... A Great result and expected. Unfortunately seems to have gone. 

11th and 12th January

Not a great deal of birding done this weekend as i spent some time at home and a few hours walking around National Trusts Sutton Hoo.

I did still manage a short period on the patch with plenty of Geese still about.
Max numbers 44 White-fronted Geese, 59 Barnacle Geese, 48 Brent Geese and 2 Bar Headed Geese.

Nice to get 3 Owl Species, Barn, Short-eared and Tawny.

2 Water rail and 2 Cettis Warblers were very vocal in near darkness. 2 Adult Caspian and a near Adult Yellow Legged Gull roosted on the scrape.

Peregrine in one of its usual spots.

During the day 3rd time lucky with the Rough Legged Buzzard at Bawdsey, think you can just about tell what it is.

That was about it really ;-)

Minsmere

Had the day off from the patch today thought id better take a break dont want to over do it ;-)
So started the day at Bawdsey hoping to see the long staying Rough Legged Buzzard, typically after positive news first thing it had gone by the time i got there.
So took a slow drive onto Minsmere and got the 9 Bewick Swans reported on the main rd.

Got to Minsmere and watched the Green Winged teal asleep for 90% of the time. Still first one for a couple of years. 2 Whooper Swans flew from the pools and a Drake Goosander was nice. 

Out to sea lots of Red-throated Divers and Great Crested Grebes. Lastly 4 Common Scoter. 

Lastly a couple of special Fungi. Birds-nest Fungi by the pond and New Coral Fungi on the beach.

Happy New Year from Hollesley

A very Good start to the year picking up 82 species for the day and all on foot from the house. At Home now 3 Lesser Redpoll on the feeders.  Whilst filling up the feeders 4 White-fronted Geese flew towards the patch.

Highlights on the patch being the Siberian Stonechat still.

Then after finding 2 Bean geese yesterday 8 more Bean Geese this time on Hollesley Scrape.

In fields Barnacle numbers doubled to  44, also 16 White-fronted Geese, 25 Brent and  the usual 2 Bar Headed Geese.

Went back to work Thursday and Friday so no birding. really need to win the Lottery so i can just go birding everyday....

Yeasterday 4th back to the patch and started with an incredible 80+ Russian White-fronted Geese with small numbers still coming in off the sea. The Bar headed geese were still here and there were many more Brent Geese now.

Did the circular a couple of times Snipe and Jack Snipe were a nice surprise. 9 Black tailed Godwit were the other highlight.
During the week 21 Bean Geese visited the site but i could only find 9, Group of 5 and 4.

Only a handful of White-fronts were left on my second trip around the patch.

Finished with 3 Whooper Swans over a Firecrest by the entrance to the RSPB Car park and a Kingfisher in the ditch.

Great few days once again on patch. Green birding at its finest.