Jan 28th

The Little egret was present again today, feeding in the same spot as last week, before moving to the small pool. A Willow tit, 2 Redpoll and 20+ Siskin were present along the river. Wigeon numbers appear to have dropped with no birds on the main pool again and just 15 on the small pool along with 25 Pochard. Also noted were 1 Gadwall (drake), 14 RL Partridge, 3 Goldcrest, Treecreeper and 3 Mistle Thrush.

Nearby: 1 Firecrest, 15+ Goldcrest, 4 Chiffchaff and Green Sandpiper still off Eddison road, Hams Hall.
L Johnson...

Jan 27th

Very little of note this morning in a brief walk around the main pool in the fog. A Meadow pipit flew south over the western end. Usual numbers of Tufted duck on the main pool as well as the 3 resident Greylag Geese with the Canada flock. Interestingly no Wigeon were present. At least 2 Goldcrest were also noted.
L Johnson...

Jan 23rd

There was no sign of yesterdays Little Egret this morning, however a Kingfisher in the same spot was the first to be recorded at the site this year. A mobile flock of 20+ Redpoll at the eastern end contained 3 pale birds (a female/1st winter male and 2 adult male), probably of the race flammea. 90+ Siskin were also in the area aound the small pool. More evidence of a recent local release of game by the surrounding land owners was evident with a count of 53 phesant in one field! The total count this morning ended up with 58 birds plus 20 RL Partridge. 80+ Redwing flew over south, with a further 10 in the horse paddocks. Other species noted were 1 Willow tit, 1 Jay, 2 Buzzard, 2 Mistle Thrush and a Goldcrest.
L Johnson...

22nd Jan

After a blank year at the site for the species in 2008, a Little egret feeding at the eastern end was a nice surprise. A very high count of 39 Red legged Partridge may relate to a recent release in the area. Also noted were 8 Phesant and 2 Goldcrest.
L Johnson...

Jan 19th

Duck numbers seemed to have dropped slightly this morning, although the drake Gadwall was still present on the small pool. A flock of around 50 Siskin were along the stream with two Lesser Redpoll in amongst them. A willow tit was calling from the south side of the small pool. Also noted this morning were 1 Goldcrest, 3 Greylag Geese, 1 Common Gull and 4+ Bullfinch.
L Johnson...

Jan 17th.

Request for sightings records.
If you have any interesting records, or any high counts for 2008 please forward them to Lee or myself , so we can update last years figures. You can find Lee,s and my e mail address and phone numbers on top left hand side of this page. Many thanks.
Steve.

Jan 17th

The majority of the ducks this morning had been pushed onto the small pool by the sailing. A pair of Gadwall were present on the floating reedbed along with good numbers of Pochard. There was some gull movement mid morning with 3 GBB gull over (2 adults and a 1st winter) and 5 Herring Gull. 1 Common Gull was present on the main pool. At least 2 Yellowhammer flew over.
L Johnson...

Jan 14th

Very little around this morning in the fog. Wigeon numbered 49, while the number of Pochard present dropped to 19. 1 Common Gull was present late morning on the main pool. 2 Yellowhammer were around the horse paddocks and 4 Redpoll flew over.
L Johnson...

Jan 13th

Both pools were finaly ice free this morning. Duck numbers had been quick to recover with 31 Pochard and 40+ Tufted Duck. Wigeon numbers were fairly consistent to that over the cold snap, numbering 44. Last weeks sub-adult Yellow legged gull was on the small pool briefly at 10:00 with 2 LBB Gull, before relocating to the main pool for the rest of the morning. 4+ Herring Gull flew over heading west at 11:00 with at least 30 LBB Gull. The first Willow Tit of the year was calling from the north shore section of the river.
L Johnson...

Jan 8th

The drake Goosander was present again this morning on the main pool. Gull numbers had dropped from yesterdays figures but 1 Herring Gull was still present and a 1st winter GBB Gull flew over. 5 Teal present on the river just north east of the small pool were the only ducks of note. A mixed flock of finches along the river held 20+ Siskin and 12+ Lesser Redpoll. Two Yellowhammer were along the hedge on the south side of the field. A notable record came in the form of a fly over Common Snipe. Also present this morning were Mistle Thrush, 4 Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker, GS Woodpecker, Phesant, 6 RL Partridge, Linnet, Jay and 3 Coal Tit.
L Johnson...

Jan 7th

After Mondays good start to the site year list, this morning made it a great start (by Shustoke standards anyway). Two Yellow legged Gulls, an adult and sub adult, were present on the main pool for most of the morning (only 1 bird was recorded at the site last year). Four Greater black backed gulls joined the Yellow legged's at 11:20, comprising of 2 adults, a 1st winter and a 2nd winter (again only 1 bird was recorded at the site last year). The most unusal record was a Dunlin that flew in calling from the east at 11:00, circled the pool before landing briefly on the ice and flying off low west. At 11:25 a Green Sandpiper flew east along the river before turning around and heading back in the direction of Ladywalk. Also noted this morning were 54 Wigeon, 6 Shovler, 15 Herring Gull, Collared Dove, 1 Goldcrest, Buzzard, 6 Common Gull and a Siskin.
L Johnson...

5th Jan

After temperatures of around 28 degrees for the last two weeks I was met with snow showers on my first morning back. Both pools were almost completly frozen over with just a few small patches of open water left. The year got off to a fairly good start though with a drake Goosander on the main pool. The cold weather must also have displaced some Teal with 10 present on the main pool. Two Tree Sparrow were around the sailing club, with Bullfinch, 8 Redwing and Fieldfare also noted. Wigeon were concentrated around the floating reedbed on the small pool with 44 present. Also noted this morning were 4 Mute Swan, 1 Skylark (over), House Sparrow, 2 GC Grebe, 15 Little Grebe, 2 Herring Gull, 7 LBB Gull, 3 Common Gull, 50 BH Gull, 8 Lapwing (over) and 2 Redpoll (over).
L Johnson...