Dedication's what you need!

Roy would be so proud, I'm a record breaker! In a last gasp score before the working week arrives, and with it February, I have secured my 72nd species for the patch in January. I am delighted, as for the last week I have continually drawn a blank on my frequent early morning forays to the Park. Today I trudged another seven miles, all the way to the OSW and then a full loop around the Ornamental Waters with Richard. And all for practically nothing - the Ornamentals are looking really quite good having now filled up again but are mostly devoid of birds. As we returned to the Perch Pond I decided to have one final look at the manure pile near the stables, and as predicted by Nick a Grey Wagtail flew up from alongside the heap and over towards the indoor paddock.  Yay!

My alternative was to go and hang around near the Roding for the Woodcock to come out and feed at dusk, something I really didn't fancy very much, so this eleventh hour tick saved me from having to do that and I was able to have a nice leisurely lunch at home avec vin. I will probably now see a Peregrine on the way to work tomorrow and a Snipe the day after that, this is how it goes sometimes. So a big score to top off a productive weekend which saw yet another trip to the dump (goodbye a bent bicycle wheel, a rotten wooden bird feeder, some more rusting tins of paint, and other assorted junk from our now 100% clear and functional shed, as well as some garden waste and the packaging material from our new bedside tables), some more DIY, the tidying of one of the understairs cupboards, and a trip out to Essex to pick up some plants.

Today was as dull as predicted and I didn't take a camera. In anticipation of this I saved this Great Crested Grebe from yesterday. I suspect that's the final photograph I will take in January, it has really been dreadfully unproductive - I've saved a mere 34 photos from the one morning that there was a hint of sunshine.