The shortest day of 2014 brought some welcome sunshine after several days of soggy gloom. Venturing out to look for birds became feasible again and my 15K cycle ride turned up 32 species. December's mild weather means that there is no sign of winter arrivals of field fares, redwings or bramblings but a solitary lapwing near La Tâche was perhaps a remnant of migration earlier in the month. Sadly this bird seemed to be injured as it was in the same part of the ploughed field in which I'd first seen it some days earlier. On that occasion it was accompanied by a few white wagtails but there was no sign of them anywhere today.
Linnets were flocking in their hundreds though and there were also large numbers of chaffinch and skylarks on the plains. Curiously I did not see or hear any goldfinch or greenfinch on my journey but a solitary hawfinch was in a tree near the bio farm.
The only other birds of note were a hen harrier, a chiffchaff and a flock of starlings which were pleasantly carolling in a tree near the wind turbines.
Robins were far less common than say a month ago so perhaps some have dispersed
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