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Hey, the weather has been very interesting with some very wet days, some very cold days and yes, some sunshine.

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There is one thing is for certain though, if you are up at daybreak the dawn chorus is already changing. Gone are the bitter sweet warbles of the Robin and faint chattering of Sparrows and the half hearted piping of the Blackbird. This last week our early morning walk around the village streets produced not one, not two, but five singing male Song Thrushes. Allan told me that one Song thrush had been to check if his bin had been emptied. But alas none in my garden or bins!

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So what has been seen in and around the village? Well it has been a great week. Thirty Pink Footed geese flew over my head in the late evening one day. I have watched a Barn Owl quartering the fields on Birch Moor, what a treat! The number of Redwings and Chaffinches seem to have fallen but still plenty of Fieldfare about. Whilst walking the Strine Pipe behind Harper I flushed a very noisy Green Sandpiper!! This is for me a very special surprise. These birds over winter are very local and quite scarce.  It not the first time I have seen them locally. A few years back one flew up from the Strine when I approached the bridge at the end of Pond Lane. They are small waders with a dark back, long bill and distinctive white rump. Look out, you may be lucky. We are still seeing Goosander locally on pools and canal. Egrets seem to have featured recently with what looked like a Little Egret seen this end of the Canal and Neal finding a Great White Egret on the Weald Moors.

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