5th January 2026 - Abney Hall, Stockport, G. Manchester - After popping for some veg and a coffee I set off back home through this local area. A chat with a lovely lady feeding the birds, a short wander and I saw:- 2 * Chaffinch; 1 * Jay; 1 * Great Spotted Woodpecker; 2 * Carrion Crow; 2 * Wood Pigeon; 2 * Robin; 1 * Long Tailed Tit; 1 * Blue Tit; 2 * Great Tit; 2 * Blackbird; 1 * Nuthatch; 1 * Coal Tit; 1 * Song Thrush; 2 * Magpie; 2 * Dunnock; 6 * Mallard; 5 * Coot and 13 * Moorhen.

I also saw a Leopard Slug (Limax maximus) and 3 * Budapest Slug (Tandonia budapestensis).

5th January 2026 - River Mersey, Stockport, G. Manchester - A frozen day so a walk to feed the birds was a necessity. Along the way I didn't dawdle and so avoiding the nip. I did manage to record the following birds:- 2 * Blue Tit; 2 * Dipper; 9 * Goosander; 5 * Cormorant; 65 * Mallard; 1 * Wood Pigeon; 3 * Goldcrest; 5 * Blackbird; 1 * Wren; 4 * Great Tit; 1 * Kingfisher; 5 * Magpie; 1 * Treecreeper; 25 * Lapwing; 3 * Long Tailed Tit; 2 * Mandarin Duck; 3 * Robin; 3 * Carrion Crow; 1 * Great Spotted Woodpecker; 1 * Coal Tit; 1 * Grey Heron and 1 * Jackdaw.

4th January 2026 - Greenway Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire - A good circular walk, around the upper areas and The Serpentine we saw a few birds:- Jackdaw; Pied Wagtail; Black Headed Gull; Carrion Crow; Redwing; Treecreeper; Robin; Wood Pigeon; Coal Tit; Goldcrest; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Goldfinch; Blackbird; House Sparrow; Robin; Wood Pigeon; Nuthatch and 3 * Little Egret.

We also saw a 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) and the LIchen (Punctelia subrudecta).

Around Knypersley Reservoir we clocked up more bird species:- plenty of Coots; Black Headed Gulls; Cormorants and Mallards plus 30 * Tufted Duck; 7 * Coal Tit; 10 * Goosander; 1 * Treecreeper; 1 * Dunnock; 1 * Wren; 1 * Marsh Tit and fair numbers of Blue Tit; Moorhen; Blackbird; Wood Pigeon; Robin as well as the odd Nuthatch; Canada Goose and Lesser Black Backed Gull. A couple of strange Muscovy Ducks were also in the mix.

4th January 2026 - Westport Lake, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire - A walk to feed the birds and see what we could see. All areas were frozen, only a few fungi were noted as well as the following bird species:- Nuthatch; Siskin; Wren; Buzzard; Herring Gull; Magpie; Long Tailed Tit; Chaffinch; Great Tit; Mute Swan; Moorhen; Tufted Duck; Blue Tit; Blackbird; Goldcrest; Mallard; Coot; Canada Goose; Lesser Black Backed Gull; Carrion Crow; Black Headed Gull and Robin.

3rd January 2026 - Hookgate NR, Market Drayton, Shropshire - No footy so a quick look at this area and then to the local charity shops were I picked up a great 'Pulp Fiction' collection of retro stories. In this tiny frosted area the few birds noted were:- 1 * Blackbird; 5 * Jackdaw; 1 * Wood Pigeon; 1 * Common Redpoll; 1 * Robin; 1 * Blue Tit; 1 * Dunnock; 1 * Wren and a few Mallard and Starling.

Gorse was in flower and a 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) was stupidly braving the cold.

3rd January 2026 - Telford Park, Shropshire - An early morning walk before some shopping and then finding out all local football matches were off. The snow had fallen, it was an icy affair, bird species noted were:- Buzzard; Blackbird; Robin; Magpie; Great Tit; Carrion Crow; Goldfinch; Feral Pigeon; Black Headed Gull; Coot; Lesser Black Backed Gull; Moorhen; Mallard; Redwing; Dunnock; Long Tailed Tit; Blue Tit; Song Thrush; Tufted Duck; Grey Heron; Jay; Goldcrest and Pied Wagtail.

The only other things noted were a few fungi, a grey Squirrel and Hart's Tongue Fern.

2nd January 2026 - River Mersey, Stockport, G. Manchester - Heading homeward, a check of a few logs revealed:- Budapest Slug (Tandonia budapestensis); Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum); Tramp Slug (Deroceras invadens); Girdled Snail (Hygromia cinctella); Plaited Door Snail (Cochlodina laminata); Green Cellar Slug (Limacus maculatus) and a Variegated Centipede (Lithobius variegatus).

I also saw a 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata); the Ground Beetle (Nebria brevicollis); the Harvestman (Paroligolophus agrestis); 2 * Magpie; 2 * Goosander; 3 * Carrion Crow; 82 * Black Headed Gull; 22 * Canada Goose; 1 * Blue Tit; 1 * Robin and Lesser Celandine and Hazel in flower.

2nd January 2026 - Chorlton Water Park, G. Manchester - A quick circle of the main body of water and home, it was too cold to dawdle. Birds recorded were:- 19 * Tufted Duck; 8 * Long Tailed Tit; 2 * Mute Swan; 3 * Goosander plus Cormorant; Mallard; Canada Goose; Coot; Black Headed Gull; Feral Pigeon; Magpie; Carrion Crow; Moorhen; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Blackbird; House Sparrow and Starling.

I see the feeding station is no longer used and the area left to go to pot - another area with folk showing little interest it seems.

The only other addition was Shepherd's Purse in flower.

1st January 2025 - Pennington Flash, Leigh, G. Manchester - A catch up with my brother at an area that isn't really a nature reserve any more. I mean, what reserve for wildlife sees it swamped with people who are not interested, dogs running wild and the water filled with boats. Around the cafe area was horribly busy, people dressed in their finery and as clean as you can imagine. Hey ho, we came off grubby after a good yomp and saw a few nice things.

Mini-beasts were few, it was mighty cool, but we did see:- 2 * 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata); 1 * Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni); 1 * Leafhopper (Zygina flammigera); 1 * Ground Beetle (Ocys harpaloides/tachysoides agg); several Shiny Woodlouse (Oniscus asellus); Striped Woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum); Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber) as well as the Harvestman (Nemastoma bimaculatum) and the Walnut Orb Weaver (Nuctenea umbratica).

4 * Common Frog (Rana temporaria), a Garlic Snail (Oxychilus alliarius) and a Green Cellar Slug (Limacus maculatus) as well as several Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).

Groundsel; Common Vetch; Wavy Bittercress; Gorse; Sweet Violet; White Dead Nettle and Daisy were the only flowers noted.

Old galls picked out included:- Andricus foecundatrix; Agathomyia wankowiczii; Andricus lignicola and Andricus kollari agg.

Bird species seen today were:- Buzzard; Great Spotted Woodpecker; Little Grebe; Little Egret; Grey Heron; Goosander; Lapwing; House Sparrow; Stock Dove; Wren; Treecreeper; Herring Gull; Common Gull; Great Crested Grebe; Great White Egret; Goldeneye; Great Black Backed Gull; Pheasant; Sparrowhawk; Pochard; Moorhen; Coot; Canada Goose; Black Headed Gull; Mute Swan; Wood Pigeon; Magpie; Cormorant; Tufted Duck; Long Tailed Tit; Song Thrush; Redwing; Blackbird; Nuthatch; Robin; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Bullfinch; Reed Bunting; Chaffinch; Teal; Siskin; Goldfinch; Shoveler; Gadwall; Mandarin Duck; Oystercatcher; Lesser Black Backed Gull; Grey Wagtail and Carrion Crow. We also had Jay on call.

Lichens seen were:- Physcia aipolia; Parmotrema perlatum; Physcia tenella; Lecidella elaeochroma and Xanthoria parietina.