Murky grey day.
A quiet day day about the village today, although most of the usual birds did put in an appearance. A couple of robins seemed to be chasing each other around the garden while a hedge sparrow sang from the bottom hedge. As I walked the dog round the lanes today one of the first sights was two buzzards circling fairly high over the nearby Forest. Several blackbirds were running along the grass verge ahead of us. The small trees and gardens that I passed produced some blue tits and a jay which flew off into the woods.
The playing field yielded a couple more blackbirds and their big relatives the mistle thrush pair. Woodpigeons seem to be in abundance at the moment but only a sprinkling of collared doves. There were a few starlings about this morning and a good crowd of house sparrows in and out of gardens and hedges. There was a song thrush with three blackbirds on one grass verge accompanied by two grey squirrels, they all made themselves scarce through the fence into the football ground.
A visit this afternoon to Cannop Ponds saw loads of small birds on the feeders. Blue, great and coal tits, robins and chaffinches. On the water were the inevitable mallards a pair of mute swans ans several youngsters with a single little grebe. A fairly peaceful day all round.