We'd hoped to be able to get in some birding while visiting our youngest at Keele University but the weather put paid to that - flooded roads and continued rain. 
It was a shame as I'd just got back from a couple of weeks working in Russia and was keen to get out in temperatures above the sub-zero of late. From our hotel room we spotted many corvids, but I suppose you'd expect that from a hotel called Rookery Hall! We added a pair of mistle thrush on the extensive lawns to the rear.
As a consolation for not getting birding we walked round the University grounds and in particular the woods and ponds. No jay as on previous occasions but we did spot both nuthatch and treecreeper for the year list. 
On our final day off for half-term we decided to try for the short eared owls at Borough Hill, Daventry. It had been a couple of days since anyone had posted anything, the wind was quite strong and temperatures on the low side. We stood on the hillside scanning left, right and ahead. After a couple of hours we gave up and headed back tot he car before the light gave in. The only company we had were a couple of other birders who sloped off before us, the constant crossing of a green woodpecker and a female kestrel who hunted a bit but could often be hunkered down against the wind in the tree beside us.
