A cold snap to start with, including snow, which lingered for a few days.  Water lying on the brooks had mainly frozen, before wetter and milder weather returned from the 9th. Storm Goretti grazed us on the 8th, then Storm Chandra on the 27th, but again we didn’t get the worst of it – though it brought plenty of rain to add to the existing floods.

January kicked off with Roger F spotting 4 Little Gulls flying over West End Lane on the 2nd and Peter M having a close encounter with a pair of Goldcrests on the railway line on the 3rd.

All quiet until the 8th when Nige, Nigel, Will Tony F and Val did the SOS New Year Bird Race, as the Famous Five rather than the Fab Four, finding a rather low total of 57 species, but including a normally elusive Treecreeper at Woods Mill, cracking views of a Water Rail near Stretham and two Peregrines on the brooks. A Black Swan wasn’t allowed! Two people we met said they had just seen a White-tailed Eagle which had taken off and headed east!

 On the 10th Liz T was surprised to find a Little Egret on a stream in woods of Henfield Common, she thinks it was sheltering from the wind.  The next day I caught up with some some Gadwall (not found on the Bird Race) lurking among Mallards at Rye Farm.

The first Water Rail report (at the Rye Farm track) was by Peter & Penny on the 23rd, then Sharon R found a pair on the 26th.  Down at Oreham, John P got a fantastic view of a Sparrowhawk at his feeders.

The first singing Blackcap was heard by Andy at Small Dole on the 30th, probably one of the wintering ones having a practice. My disappointment by a bread van no show before a walk that day, was lifted by songs from a Chaffinch, a Goldcrest and numerous Dunnocks.  At Betley Bridge – which had a tree stuck under it – I debated whether to continue as there was no wildfowl bar half a dozen swans, but did carry on and  a scan of the floods to the east found at least 3 White-fronted Geese with a load of Greylags. The same day, Liz T heard persistent cronking of a Raven in the same area.