A kaleidoscope of colour. 1st January, 2019.

It's a new dawn ,

It's a new day,

It's a new life.

An' I'm feeling good.

Whilst it was never intended to be a designated birding day, in the end it turned out to be really enjoyable. I'm in the Scottish Highlands, west of Inverness, with yesterday being an unseasonable 15C.   I've a feeling this will change !!

Up early and all the feeders filled in anticipation of a good showing in the garden.  I wasn't disappointed.  But first, in that cold light of dawn, Whooper Swans called from the nearby Firth and a few small skeins of Pink-footed Geese flew out to their feeding areas.

The next few hours were a bustle of activity with Great, Blue and Coal Tits, Siskins, Tree and House Sparrows, a small flock of Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and an odd Greenfinch, a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a few Yellowhammers.  Seen at close quarters the colours were great to see and certainly brightened up the day. A Red Kite drifted over late morning adding a little excitement to the proceedings. I enjoyed it , although compared to the undoubted frantic activities of some, the ultimate day total of , ( whisper it ), 23 was relatively modest. Most surprising was a pair of Oystercatcher seen feeding later on the grass verge near to some traffic lights in the otherwise built up area leading to Charleston School.  Unexpected and a real blaze of contrast as I waited my turn at the lights !   

I no longer have a garden and realised how much of a luxury and privilege it can be to really study birds up close. If I'm honest I really enjoyed it, despite it being a low key intro to what I hope will be a bumper year.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.