1/1/13 Purton (Glos) sightings

Today it felt alot like Spring rather than the middle of Winter as Purton in gloucestershire had hundreds of birds from roughly 11:00 to 12:00. I counted at least 32 birds which was very good. I was very lucky to see some birds and to hear then as I have hardly seen/heard them at Purton before down the Tow Path as well as The Berkeley Arms pub looking out to the River Severn. The strange but great bird sightings were:

• 1 Cetti's Warbler (Timber Pools)
• 17 Waxwings (near old ships)
• 2 Rock pipits (with meadow pipits and skylarks feeding in the field by the pub)
• 3 Meadow Pipits (Field by pub)
• 3 Skylarks (field by pub feeding with the rock and meadow pipits at high tide) 
• 2 Ravens

Other birds which were sighted were not as rare but still nice to see included:

• 2 mute swans
• 4 Morhens- 3 in field by bridge and 1 in the Timber pools
• 200+ Golden plover got scared on the mud flats (viewed from Pub)
• 2 curlew (feeding on the field by the pub)
• 50+ Dunlin got scared as well on the mud flats
• 3 robins singing very close to each other keeping their territories
• 1 Dunock- in a garden
• 3 blackbirds
• wood pigeons
• Several Mallards
• Carrion crows, magpie and jackdaws
• 100 + wigeon past through the Severn going towards Slimbridge WWT throughout the hour
• 2 cormarants flew through towards SARA (life boat station)
• 1 lovely looking Bull finch which is the first time i've heard one call and come quite close because they are usually shy.
• Lots of great black backed gulls
• A few herring gulls
• Small numbers of lesser black backed gulls and common gulls
• Lots of black headed gulls including one in Summer Plumage which was very strange but another signs Springs coming early.
• Lots of pied wagtails in the field by the pub feeding. (didn't see any white or grey wagtails)
• 30+ house sparrows
• A few collard doves
• Chaffinches were feeding on a feeder in the 3rd house of 3 in the garden
• Blue and great tits everywhere but theres more in the bushes on the right of the Towpath 

Sightings again but at 15:30- 16:30
The 17 birds sighted were

• Great sightings of a lapwing flock of about 15 perform their display with at least 5 dunlin (Old ships- right to Tow Path)
• 2000+ Gulls roosting on the mud because it was low tide. Most of them were herring gulls but I did pick out quite a lot of greater and lesser black backed gulls and alot of black headed gulls all together in a straight line. (Sighted from pub)
• The same 3 morhens in the 1st field on the right when walking on the towpath towards SARA
• 7 mallards and the same 2 mute swans on the canal
• 100+ wigeon roosting on the mud infront of the Gulls (sighted from the pub)
• 10 wood pigeons feeding on the same field as the morhens
• Chaffinches, a blackbird, 3 robins, blue tits, great tits and a dunnock all sighted from the Towpath on the left
• 100+ rooks were heard going to their roost in the fields on the left
• Sadly no sign of the Waxwings as they probably moved on to another place more in land and hopefully they're sighted from my garden