I hate February

February is the worst month for birders I reckon, you've seen most of the tasty winter stuff by now, it's still another month and a half before the first of the spring arrivals, the weather is awful and the patch list will only creep along.

At Druridge this afternoon, I was pondering this, whilst watching the sleet blasting down onto the deserted lake....I reckon the answer might have to be to get away from the patch a bit more, I've got the second winter visit to do for the atlas before the end of the month, so that will get me out to the Cheviots at least. I might also get about the coast a bit, go inland, maybe Kielder and look for gos (feb is a good month for them), I might even leave the County if I am very brave.....

Of course I won't desert Dru, how could I? Well today it was pretty grim down there, a freezin cold SW wind made it feel like -7, it was bright at first then started to sleet - nice! What few birds were about looked cold, especially this kes.

Cold kestrel

The goldfinch flock numbered about 120 with 10 greenies, there were about 200 golden plover and 300 lapwing on the fields, they were being spooked, but I couldn't spot any raptors....

Oh and NWT have been working on the little hide..

A new floor going into the little hide...will it be ready for spring?

Check out this new blog, dedicated to the whole birding scene in the region http://birdneast.blogspot.com/ it looks really good and I am sure it will be popular and if you can't be arsed to create your own blog, you could always post something on this one...

I'm off to find "where to watch birds in Spain....."