This weekend...

Had a trip to wollaton on saturday, was going to go birding on my own to attenborough, but ended up going for a short walk at wollaton with a group of friends. didn't see too much, as i didn't get chance to stop much, but there were still lots of birds on the lake, including some lesser black backed gulls and some gadwall. Saw one very shy jay flitting between the woodland in the conservation area too. The woodland near the football fields was bustling too, but again i couldn' stop for long so didn't see much, other than some nuthatch and a large flock of song thrush.

On sunday i went back to my parents house in Sleaford, where i went for a little walk across some farmland and to a large lake by the railway. Had a nice walk after some heavy snow this morning, which ended up being a lovely sunny wintry day. There were plenty of birds to be seen, including a flock of Reed Bunting feeding in a field of cabbage and staying away from me in the safety of a hedgerow. A large flock of small brown birds failed to get ID'd but i can only imagine they were linnet or corn bunting- too small and quick!

Some scrubby wet woodland near the lake held large numbers of Goldfinch and other passerines, and the lake had a good number of waterbirds on it. Tufted duck, Pochard, Mallard and Coot were present, along with around 150 Greylags (plus another c100 over), c100 Black Headed Gulls, with a couple of Common Gulls and 1 Lesser Black Backed gull. A strange looking greylag was there too, with odd plumage looking like a hybrid with a canada goose.

Finally there were c200 Fieldfare feeding in a field with some Blackbirds, and while watching c25 Lapwing flew overhead, and a Kestrel was seen hunting.

Good day watching some farmland birds, probably my favourite habitat for wildlife watching, as you never really know what you're going to get :)