Slow and steady start to 2017

2017 has started pretty much as 2016 finished.  I have birded the patch fairly steadily when time and weather have allowed and as of today am on 73 species for the year.  There are still some easy gaps, but I have managed to miss two good birds so far - a male Goldeneye that was around on the 5th, which happened to be my first day back in the office after Christmas, and probably more galling, a calling Brambling around the cottages yesterday, whilst I was oblivious just a 100 yards or so away.

There haven't been any other surprises recorded to date and my best bird of the month so far is probably the nice adult Med Gull that appeared in the roost on the 14th.  Unfortunately, it was right on the east side of the spit, so too far away to get sort of record shot.  The two male Shelduck have been present throughout, though intolerant of each other and always apart, and represent my best duck of the month at the moment.

I have, at long last, upgraded my camera and so intend to post many more photos of birds that I wouldn't even have attempted to take with my old set up.  I am still getting used to it, but am enjoying the better opportunities it brings.  So below are some of the usual suspects that are around at the moment.

Yesterday, I had a nice amble around the farmland at Emmett's and these are some of the birds I saw:

 And finally, the lake has largely frozen with the recent cold nights, which has brought the gulls out onto the ice: