The new year birding list

What a horrible day.  Loads of rain, loads of wind but quite warm.

Its the last chance im going to get to get out and about for a while so I braved the conditions.  Photos were unlikely given the state of the weather so i set about creating a bird list (birders love lists).  So here we go...

In no particular order of anything:

Jackdaw
Crow
Rook
Magpie
House Sparrow
Blue Tit
Great Tit (seen as I write this)
Long Tailed Tit
Chaffinch
Reed Bunting
Wren
Starling
Wood Pigeon
Grey Heron
Little Egret
Buzzard (only seen at the end of my trip)
Marsh Harrier
Peregrine
Mallard
Pintail (only seen as a result of my photo but I will count it)
Teal
Widgeon
Shoveler
Water Rail
Snipe (1 seen thanks to a noisy family which scared it into the air)
Lapwing
Mute Swan
Black headed gull
Herring gull
Blackbird
Fieldfare

31 different birdies in total (assuming I counted correctly).

I think thats about it.  Yes i know I didn't see some really easy ones (a wagtail would have been nice!!!)

Most of them were seen at Greylake and in my back garden :-)

There were 2 harriers about the place.  I think the male actually caught something.  There was also 2 Peregrines dashing about.  Not a good day to be  a duck. There is a Pintail in there...

One of the culprits...

There was a brief bit of sunshine which let me get at least one shot which was alright.

This is the closest i have got to a Shoveler.  Even the female ones are nice close up.

As I buffeted by the wind and rain I decided to give up.  Walking back along the pathway I could hear a Water Rail sounding very much like a pig on acid.  His calls gave him away and I got a distant shot of him before he charged off

So quite a good start to the year then! I am particularly pleased i saw the Peregrines.  Still my favourites :-)