The first flowering plant was, as expected, Celandine which first opened on 26^th January. Kingfishers have been notable by their absence recently; this is perhaps explained by the prolonged periods of high flows during January, and I guess they have temporarily relocated to ponds and gravel pits. Those flows have given the brook’s margins a battering in places with several cubic metres having been eroded away at one location where a willow is impeding the flow. The relentless rains also caused the old meanders to fill to an unusually high level and it was evident that there is quite a gradient still existing. This has raised the possibility of building some dams or sluices to try to hold back the flow and keep standing water in the ponds for longer periods.

Along the path into the meadow, I found two used harvest mouse nests recently. This came as a great surprise as I’d recognised the potential habitat and searched thoroughly (or so I thought) during the late summer and I had concluded that the steady disturbance by visitors and dogs would have been too much for them.

Willow Tits, Bullfinches, Kestrels, Buzzards and Tawny Owls were recorded during the month either in the meadow or close by and surveying for the new BTO winter atlas has now recorded 45 species.