New Garden and Patch birds

After moaning about the lack of birds yesterday today saw a slight improvement in activity.

As dawn rolled into full daylight a male Blackbird was spotted feeding on the lawn. The bird bath wasn't covered in a layer of ice this morning so a bit warmer but there were still remanents of yesterday's frost on sheltered parts of the lawn.

Then in the morning sun a male Greenfinch arrived sitting atop of one of the Fuschia bushes in the garden. He looked very smart with his bright yellow wing feathers. The Greenfinch was a species that I expected to see on the first day of the year but was noticeably absent so his appearance this morning was a first for this year and a new one for the Patch List.

Late morning saw the arrival of a Dunnock on the lawn. Not only was it the first Dunnock of the year for me, but also another new species for the Patch List and a new species for the Garden List. The Dunnock remained in the garden well into the afternoon.

At one point it had the company of a female Blackbird. I'm still not seeing the large numbers of Blackbirds that were around before I went South.

I had to pop out at lunchtime and as I was driving back up the track between the garden and the Estate two Collared Doves flew overhead. So they were the third new species for the Patch List. I did take a quick look while I was out for the Long-eared Owl that had been seen recently but no joy with that one.

While I was getting my lunch I could see out on the fields to the West of me a flock of around 50 Lapwing and about 40 Starlings. There were also a good number of Common Gulls flying about on the breeze.

So a bit more activity today but still fairly quiet.