1. Flooded and partially frozen water meadows Bubwith Ings taken from the bedroom window - Whooper and Mute swans both present
2. Reed Bunting, North Duffield Carrs
3. Grey squirrel, Potteric Carr
4. Robin, Potteric Carr
5. Treecreeper, Potteric Carr
6. Waxwing

Well I've finally got round to summarising my 2nd week home.

Good intentions to visit Saltholme to see the long eared owls and/or Cowpen Bewley Country Park to see the ring necked duck didn't happen due to family commitments during my visit to Teesside, and even a visit to Fairburn Ings much closer to home didn't materialise (short eared owls) due to lack of time.

My search for waxwings in the York area continued to frustrate me - well I guess I may be lucky next year....

A few more pictures from my first week home attached.

Arrived at Humberside on 07 January to wind, rain and sleet, and it felt extremely cold - after all I'd just left a pleasant 25 degrees and sun behind. Thank God I'd missed the December Arctic blast.

As usual I didn't manage to get as much birding in as I would have liked, but I had some great local sightings.

Regular daily garden visitors included:

8-10 goldfinches
2 greenfinches,
numerous chaffinches
4 dunnock
5-6 blackbirds...

Arrived home on Friday 01 October after an eventful flight. The flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam was fine but the the plane from Amsterdam to Humberside had to return to Amsterdam 20 minutes into the flight due to technical problems. Managed to transfer to the next flight and arrived home about 5 hours late - minus my baggage which subsequently arrived at 02.30 on Saturday morning! Great to be knocked up at that time after such a long journey.

Due to various commitments I've...