A little bit more snow

The Safari left the sick bed today and trudged back in to work but not before taking Frank round a cold and very dark Patch 1.
On the way out we counted the Magpies, in fives again, and got 80 but there could have been more Again they were skittish getting flustered and moving around as we walked beneath them looking up.
Nothing else was stirring; it was so quiet not even a Robin broke the pre-dawn silence. That is until we got to the line of large conifers where we heard two Collared Doves singing at each other, one a baritone the other a tenor, two very different coos.
It was far to dark to get out before work on Patch 2 and by mid morning snow was falling heavily.
At lunchtime the snow had eased off but it was still cold and very grey. A good number of gulls rested on the gentle swell of the high tide. Only Common, Black Headed and Herring Gulls were present until a Great Black Back came swooping over head and disturbed them all.
A little further out was a flock of around 300 Common Scoters stretched out in a long thin line and over them first one then two more Razorbills (67) flew south. To the south beyond the scoters were a few Red Throated Divers, moving about a bit but probably no more than five or six; with them was a single Great Crested Grebe (68). Only one Cormorant today so no feeding frenzy and no cetaceans out there either.
So just two year birds this session but we should be able to get close to the ton by the end of the month with a bit of luck; last year we got 101 by close of play on 31st of January, which if we got the same this month would be half way to the difficult target of 200.
Where to next? We should be able to get out on safari over the weekend, man-flu permitting, and if so the Iceland Gull and Waxwings had better still be at the dock. Some farmland safari-ing is also in the sights.
In the meantime let us know who’s getting their voice in your outback.