not much

7/1/10
a quick check of the local pool(park hall res, opposite the wrens nest nnr) produced 5 bullfinch(not bad for an urban area) and a showy buzzard, also a fox scurried away, a check of mons hill produced a very decent sized flock of LTT's (30c) and a goldcrest.

10/1/10
lickhill
after having 3 fieldfare in my nans garden the night before i was in a good mood( showing less than a metre away from the window), recent records of goosanders plastered on the rivers in north worcester made me have a look on lickhill, i know as a fact that the section of the river that passes through lickhill is wrong for goosander but an area south of the A456 bridge at blackstone rock is pritty much spot on, after a seemingly birdless walk up to blackstone i started climbing the steadily rising path, and a glimpse of a duck, DRAKE GOOSANDER, on the water, I WAS SPOT ON, this drake quickly floated downstream so i walk to the riverbank and had another scan, bloody hell, thats a lot of goosanders, from this viewpoint i counted 10 including a fair fed drakes, i knew there was a better viewpoint a little further on so i headed up there

within sight of the road bridge a superb flock of 19 GOOSANDER was feeding, less than 10 metres from me, i saw a goosander sized bird under the road bridge about 100-200 metres away, but what got me was its bill, the views were brief but i saw a diver/ grebe like bill and white face, it dived but didnt show again, despite staying in the area for a further 40 mins, i momenterilly thought diver but GC grebe seems possible as one was seen not far up the river at bewdley a few days previous, but like that possible water rail a few weeks ago, it remains to be confirmed
but back to the goosanders heres a video of some of the flock:

after leaving the goosanders i headed back downstream, in a weedy field just north of a small perminent flood/lake (should be visible on most maps) was a thrush flock but thats not what i was amazed by, FLOCK OF 30 REED BUNTING feeding on the seeds from the weeds, remember i only had my first sighting here last spring, so to get a flock of 30 is truily immense, i stayed for 30 mins searching through the flock but nothing different stood out, but im sure there could have been a brambling in there but deffinetly no snow bunting :( , there could even be a twite, or a serin, lapland bunting( longspur) or yellowhammer, corn bunting. if any locals have a look through the flock then report back please, things you may find normal might be mega's on lickhill

while watching the flock a snipe flew over, not the hoped for woodcock, but a year tick non the less

extra info for people wanting to look for the flock it is here,goosanders north of marker at bend in river........

i will tell you what though, i know where i'll be next sunday!!!!

MB