Year ending.

Christmas morning and as I was messing about in the boiler room feeding cats and checking the boiler (it's a wood pellet contraption that requires fettling every now and again) I caught a glimpse of a small bird flit through the Swedish Whitebeams. Fortunately it came to the front and even without bins I managed to confirm it as a Goldcrest. That's the first December record.

Goldcrest records per month 2013 to 2020.

Goldcrest peak count per week 2013 to 2020.

As you can see not a common bird on the patch. Usually in the garden but occasionally found in the Hawthorn Hedge.

Christmas brought a few bits of kit, a camera protective rucksack, I'm thinking of having a go at a green year list and using the bike for more than just going to work and the odd off road session. Also some extension tubes which look as if they'll be very useful for the 12 - 45 Pro lens and using it for photographing specimens. I'll need to spend some time working out how that will work, lighting being the biggest issue. I haven't found out if the internal focus stacking on the 5 will work with these yet, hopefully it will.

Not much on the birding front otherwise, the Goosander are still on Loch of Bosquoy and there are good numbers of duck on The Shunan with Gadwall, Shoveler and Goldeneye as well as the usuals. A Little Grebe has been present for the last week as well.

I'm plugging away, entering data in iRecord, moths mostly, just June and July to go now. I don't do New Year's resolutions but with retirement in the summer I should be able to keep more up-to-date in future. It's a pain when it gets this out of hand. The fridge contains a lot of specimen tubes as well, things I just haven't got around to working through.

Don't know what this is, on the Sycamore log above.

This was on the Sycamore log as well, Crystal Brain Fungus, Exidia nucleata, thanks LJ.

 

Easier to look at bird records as I do put those into Birdtrack pretty much daily, the very good phone app helps with that. The birds species total is (so far) 96 plus a hybrid (Hooded/Carrion Crow), Carrion Crow was recorded just outside The Shunan patch. Missing this year were Twite, Common Redpoll... and at this point discover that my MS Office suite has stopped working. The software was bought via an EU rule allowing reselling of redundant units, I'm just wondering if it has failed due to MS being sharp on the EU leaving fiasco and that my previously valid license is no longer so. Excursion into the world of WPS followed....

The software didn't work again today so something's up. WPS (free office suite) does work though, or at least the Excel bit does so that buys a bit of time before deciding what to do.

.... more missing, Ringed Plover and any more interesting waders other than Jack Snipe and Woodcock, no interesting gulls, Carrion Crow, no interesting geese, etc etc. However, new for the patch were Osprey and Woodchat. I've seen Osprey several times in the past from the garden but one hadn't entered airspace previously. The Woodchat was ace, brilliant surprise, and I'd not found one anywhere before (despite being credited with an Irish record, just the only person bothered to write a description). 

I was greatly amused by this Christmas card, thank you CN.