Its Cold Outside

Popped over Bonnetts in the freezing cold this morning,got over there just after 8am and made sure i was wrapped up very warm,even so,i was freezing all morning,despite having two sets of socks on inside my wellies,which were well used today.
I started off in Parklands Car park where i had 4 mallards,5 Moorhen,2 Coots,3 Cormorants and the usual tits,plus 7 Ring necked parakeets.I then crossed over onto my patch,the now legendary Bonnetts wood.Today turned out not to be about specific birds but numbers and large numbers of thrushes in general.I went up to the higher ground near the horse paddock to see if there was anything around and i straight away had 2 Pied wagtail and a few chaffinch,then a large flock of Redwing,probably around the 40 mark came down and i watched them for a while before another larger flock of around 100 birds joined them,Redwing explosion at Bonnetts.They didn't stay long though as a Large Female Sparrowhawk put them all up back into the trees,another large flock appeared and went in to the Alder trees but these were Fieldfare and around 50 of them.Then in the farmland far out another Fieldfare flock landed,around 80 birds followed by a small flock of 20-30 Linnets in the same field.Pheasant numbers were good as well with 8 males and 5 females seen throughout the morning.The usual gulls were over the fields as well,at least 20 black headed gulls and a few herrings and 3 Lesser Black backed gulls were a late addition.A jay flew into the woods as did a Green Woodpecker which could then be seen at the top of one of the biggest Alders.
I decided to scan the fields again to see what was in the distance,52 Stock Doves were way out and 3 Red Legged Partridge were also seen.
I then decided to move down by the Bridge and to explore some new land which i haven't been onto before,to be honest i didn't know if the Forestry commision owned the land but i thought i would have a look anyway,glad i did.It is a little piece of woodland but very wet and boggy,straight away i flushed a Woodcock out into the open,next was a Great Spotted Woodpecker and in the distance i could see good numbers of Redwing,Chaffinch,Goldfinch feeding on the floor,I could also see Moorhen and a couple of Mallards but as i got closer these dissapeared.I went as far as i could before it got too boggy and turned back.

The top picture is looking into the wooded area from the Bridge,the next two are when i got through the wooded area into the flooded area,will go back and investigate more tomorrow.
On leaving the woods i decided to call it a day for the morning anyway,on the way back to the car i bumped into the local ranger for the site and asked him a few questions about the site and the proposed extension i have heard about,he confirmed that it would be starting late summer and should be open by the end of the year and will comprise of some new woodland and pathways,i should imagine there will be some grassland areas,at the moment it is just earth piled up high as it is an old landfill site but it should make Bonnetts wood more diverse and hopefully within 10-15 years alot more birds will turn up,what with the older part of the site maturing all the time it promises to be an exciting future at Bonnetts.
I went back over to Bonnetts around 3.30pm for an hour or so to see if anything else was about,i was a bit worn out from nipper running me ragged round the house for 3 hours,little nutter lol,anyway,i had a lovely Kestrel and a goldcrest as soon as i got there,didn't see too much for the next hour as i was either talking or it was just freezing cold and all the smaller birds had probably seen sense and hid away for the rest of the day,it really was a horribly cold wind.Anyway,i decided to have a look by the bridge and while i was on my way there i noticed a large bird on the telephone wires,at first i thought it was a crow but it was actually a Buzzard just looking darker and small as it was on the pole,as soon as it flew up you could see its size and it was a cracking way to finish off a nice few hours at the site.I won't be making any early morning trip there till at least Sunday now,maybe even monday as i have a busy weekend ahead,although i may try to get over there late morning tomorrow.