Jan 1st

Spent a lot of the morning somehow helping Rob Wilton to add species to his patch list and not mine (he did the driving...)3 seperate Peregrines were the highlight though I guess it contributed to my Lizard yearlist so I wasnt complaining that much, even when he convinced me the White fronted Goose DIDNT fly over mid river into Lizard land at Castle Marshes. Got to my patch around midday: Juvenile Great Northern Diver showing well in Hamilton Dock. There always seems to be a decent bird at this site each Jan 1st. Shag also noted here. Nearby at Ness Point 3 Purple Sandpipers were roosting on the rocks at high tide. Offshore numerous Red throated Divers passed north along with 2 Kittiwake and an adult Gannet. An adult Med Gull was noted at Links road car park. A Chiffchaff was noted in clifftop scrub here. A search of Corton wood produced the usual common stuff but not the half expected Firecrest ( a past regular wintering site )though a possible was seen briefly but I couldnt get bins on it. Gunton Park Lake produced a totally unexpected bonus patch yeartick in the form of a Kingfisher. Nearby I had my first look at Gunton Pool (small pool over the road from Tescos, mostly obscured) and was pleasantly surprised to find it was productive with 4 Little Grebe, 3 Wigeon, 4 plus Gadwall, 2 Grey Heron, Mute Swan and 2 Egyptian Geese over north. The Grebes were nice as I had assumed these would be very hard to get on this new patch. So Day one after a very casual search produced 46 species (53 points)