Wednesday 8th. February 2012

Didn't get out today . Didn't want to be out today . Unlike yesterday , there was no thawing , and with snow flurries for most of the day and the thermometer barely getting above 0C , and not even a glimpse of the sun , I stayed at home  .I wasn't going to post for the obvious reason , but the Cotoneaster bush next door was the subject of two invasions today . The first was almost spot on 8 o'clock this morning , when a flock of about 40/50 Redwings , together with a handful of Fieldfares arrived , and stayed feeding for about half an hour . It was snowing lightly at the time , so you can imagine what the light was like , so no picture was possible .This afternoon , at about 3 o'clock , a much bigger invasion occured , when a flock of somewhere about 150 Fieldfares descended on the neighbouring gardens to ours , the centre of attention again was the Cotoneaster bush . They fed avidly for about  an hour in varying numbers , with on average about 20/30 birds on the berries at any one time , the remainder in other gardens and on the trees around . I took one shot of part of the Cotoneaster that still has some berries on it , and I can find 17

Fieldfares in it , there could well be more . The flock contained just the odd Redwing , and as darkness fell , the last birds reluctantly flew off to roost , no doubt to plan tomorrow's invasion to finish things off .