Monday January 13

I took the day off today, although most of the morning was spent paying our respects at the funeral of our friend Nikki.

It was a beautiful morning and after the service I had an hour to go to the patch with the intention of adding to my photo list. I stayed around Netherstead and began with a rather better shot of a Robin than the one I "ticked" yesterday.

Sitting in the car waiting for something to come close is actually a bit frustrating as I had plenty of chances to get shots of other species already on the photo year list, but I did add:

17. Great Tit

and

18. Carrion Crow

Of the remaining pictures, I think this Yellowhammer is better than my previous effort.

male Yellowhammer

I didn't see anything remotely unusual. The best bird was probably a circling Sparrowhawk.
I rang Mike while I was there as I knew he was visiting his own patch today. He sounded more positive, and was catching up with some of the easy passerines previously unrecorded.

This evening he has confirmed he has added another nine species, the best being a Treecreeper. He also saw the Woodcock again. It sounds as though Haselor scrape remains absolutely dire though.