Dry but foggy all day.
A depressing day due to the fog not lifting at all here but a good day bird wise. A quick trip across the Forest this morning revealed that the weather was slightly better elsewhere but I certainly didn't see any sunshine.
The Speech House field was busy with birdlife, a few Crows in the distance but the thrush family was well represented. Several Blackbirds were accompanied by two Mistle Thrushes, a couple of Song Thrushes and about a dozen Redwings. A quick visit to New Fancy on my way home and a Hawfinch was feeding on the ground under the feeders. This will certainly be the highlight of my week. There were a large number of Chaffinches in the vacinity together with Coal Tits a plenty, a lone Nuthatch and lots of Blue and Great Tits. On my way back home a lone Buzzard was sitting at the top of a dead tree, silhouetted against the sky.
My walk around the village today showed large numbers of Woodpigeons, some feeding in various open spaces but mostly flying to and fro at high speed. A couple of pairs of Collared Doves flew up noisily as well. A Green Woodpecker took off from a patch of grass up into some large oak trees. Two Greenfinches were calling from the top of a Leylandii hedge while a Hedge Sparrow fed on the ground below. Several House Sparrows were feeding in the road but joined a lot of their colleagues in the Hawthorn hedge as I passed.
A flock of Goldfinches were seen in the trees at the end of the garden with Wrens and Robins busying themselves about the place. Our resident cock Blackbird was sitting in the bottom of a large shrub singing very quietly, it won't be long before he is going full tilt. The Hazel catkins are growing by the day, Spring cannot be too far away.