Patch wanderings...

Today was cold...very cold! At one point I lost all sensation in my face and couldn't speak, it was so cold. After a light dusting of snow last night, I just had to wander up over the fields outside my house, mostly in the hope of seeing the male merlin that's been hanging around for the last week or two. It did put in a brief (very fast) appearance as it thundered across the field above my house in pursuit of linnets but was not seen again. But there were one or two surprises to be had this morning in the shape of 70 stock doves (a patch rarity) feeding in the field adjacent to Boundary Lane and then 24 golden plover less than 500ms from the house on my way back home:

Golden plover: R. Harris

This one was about the closest and all I managed to get.