2021 Year List Begins

On New Years Day I headed out to try and kick start my new year list. I stayed local, but concentrated on an area I knew would give me a good number of birds across different habitats. With woodland, open farmland, hedgerow and water, I thought I'd be in with a good chance of seeing a variety of birds. I actually ended the day on 46 species, so was very pleased for just a few hours.

It was cold, with some fresh snow having fallen in the early hours, but already starting to melt. I knew the birds would be out and eagerly looking for food.

This Robin gave me an almost picture postcard pose in the snow.

I've found a really good Tree Sparrow location, with around 30 birds. Not easy to find these days, so I always take my time when around them to observe and enjoy these secretive little birds.

Lovely chestnut brown caps and the black markings on the cheeks.

The real surprise of the morning was finding these Whooper Swans. 25 in total, and a really good early year tick. They didn't hang around long, but just long enough to ID them at distance through the binoculars and to take a couple of record shots. As you can see, these differ to our native Mute Swans with their yellow bills, and are just visiting here for the winter. They will head off back to the arctic tundra to breed in the Spring.