The Fantastic Mr Fox !!!

The weather is very cold here in Nantwich today, so I decided on a walk around the local Boating Lake, along the River Weaver and back home.  We, (Al, Scruffy (our dog) and me) were pleasantly surprised with a guest appearance by - The Fantastic Mr Fox -  It is a long time since I have seen one on the bank so close to the waters edge.  Managed some snaps of him, along with the Goosander, who are still present on the same stretch of the Weaver as the other day - todays count 20.  

Surprise on the River Weaver

I had a pleasant surprise whilst walking Scruffy, our dog, this afternoon on the River Weaver which runs through Nantwich - Nine Goosander - 7 Male and 2 Female - this is only the second time in my life I've seen this species on our local River.  I guess with the Cheshire Meres and Reservoirs being frozen over they have moved to the river looking for food.

Cholmondoley Estate Local Patch

 Tawny Owl 

 Robin 

 Robin 

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Had a couple of hours on one of our local patches today. The weather was bitterly cold on the short walk from the car to the Hide on Deer Park Mere.  I spotted a large lump that is not normally there in the top of one of the Pines, a closer inspection confirmed it was a Tawny Owl.

At the hide I could see, as I had expected, 80% of the Mere was frozen over meaning the Goosander and Goldeneye, that I was hoping to photograph were at the other end of the Mere, so no luck there.  A cold but pleasant walk through the woods was more productive than expected, providing me views of a very mobile Flock of 80+ Siskin. Amongst them at least 3 Redpoll which was nice. The only other sighting of note were 5 Brambling in leaf litter under a couple of large Beech trees.