Kicking off the new year

 I started off my new year birding in the same fashion as I have the previous few with a visit to my 'local' patch Gayhurst Quarry.
 The walk down didn't produce anything much out of the ordinary and arriving at Fishing Pit it was totally birdless as it was still totally frozen over.
 The same was true of Spinney and Reedy Pit, however the huge Goose and Swan flock was still present in the field betwen the two rivers. Masses of Greylags and Canadas, around 50 Mute Swans and after a thorough search, the adult Whooper still present.
 A flock of 5 Siskins fed in the Alders by the pits and a Little Egret was disturbed from the side of the small river.
 As of my previous visit, a section of Motorway Pit was unfrozen and this is where all the ducks were found.
300 plus Wigeon and lesser numbers of Mallard, Tufteds, Pochard and Teal.

 I took the walk up to Quarryhall, where a flock of around 40 Skylarks fed in the cereal field. At the Quarry itself a mixed flock of around 30 Yellowhammers, several Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and a single Tree Sparrow adorned the hedgerow.
 At the maize strip a cage contains about 50 Red-legged Partridges. I can't really understand what this is about, as usually Gamebirds are reared in the summer and released just before the shooting season starts.
The season ends in a month, so what will they do. Surely they don't let them out of the cage just to fly into the guns. Asolutely f***ing pathetic!!!!