The wildlife had responded to the cold conditions by going back to where they had spent the winter! No butterflies were seen, and the TREECREEPER, GOLDCRESTS, and assorted Tits had formed up into a loose flock in the wet woods. Song was much diminished, except from the hardy DUNNOCK, BLACKBIRD, MISTLE THRUSH, and GREAT TITS, but the Siskin that have spent much of the winter in the woods seem to have dispersed. BULLFINCH were again evident, after being being pretty elusive in the last 2 weeks, there ''rusty hinge'' call was heard several times, both in the small holding and the scrubby orchard, adjacent the lake. n the lake there were just the normal characters, 4 CANADA GEESE, 5 MALLARD up to 5 MOORHEN, and a little less normal a pair of CORMORANT.
I passed through the ex-tree nursery, not seeing anything at all really, it will be a while before any bird life returns here, after all the disturbance to the habitat. I only sat on the horse jump at Migrant alley for 20 mins, I just got too cold, the wind whips across those fields something wicked! It was evident that with the cooler temperatures, the insects were very subdued, and in turn, the insectivorus PIED WAGTAILS were down to just 3, so no chance of a migrant Wheatear today! I did walk a couple of circuits of the paddocks and ploughed field though, and the best I came up with was 35 FIELDFARE and 2 REDWING, the latter hasn't been seen since last weekend. Birds of note flying over included 2 GREY HERONS, and 2 Cormorant, but these were in all probability the ones I had seen earlier on the lake. - Oh, and all the Chiffchaffs have stopped chiff-chaffing!
Above - One of the Fieldfare, sitting on the dividing hedge of the ploughed field, and the polytunnel field growing the Raspberries. A cracking looking bird!
Above - A blackbird, this male was hanging around the grassy areas by the polytunnels.
Lastly, the only shot of a confiding little Goldcrest that I got, but a twig got in the way!!
10 comments:
Warren ,
You're right about the weather . We must have got the cloud later than you . Worked in tee shirt this morning , then fleece after lunch .
Saw a few Fieldfares with Mistle Thrushes up on the Ridge yesterday .
Warren: We are going through similar things with our weather but the birds are still chirping away even on these colder days. Really neat bird shots today.
Still tee-shirt sleeves weather up here - I even had a paddle in the sea with the dogs this evening..loverrrly....not personally seen any summer visitors myself yet but plenty of chiffchaff, wheatears and blackcaps already in, couple of ospreys too.
Cheers
Dave
Yep, it was a cold one today, Warren. Supposed to be better tomorrow, so it could be better birding. Good luck.
Warren,
Just catching up with you posts as all the others have already said some great pictures and lucky you to be able to see wheatears 2 already cant be too bad !!
Lovely shot of the Fieldfare mate, no birding for me today as it was my birthday and have been out and about.
It's amazing how much the weather can differ in relatively close places. Kent/Surrey/Sussex are not that far apart and yet Sussex was warm and sunny all day!! Sorry it wasn't so in Kent Warren!
Lovely pic of the fieldfare and Goldcrests are really talented in getting behind twigs/branches/leaves the minute a camera points at them!
Lovely to see the Fieldfare, I haven't seen one for years and I don't think I have ever seen a Goldcrest.
It's been sunny here all day but a chilly wind, sounds like we had it better than you though.
That last photo looks like a fuzzy little ball with a beak stuck in it!
Hi Warren,
Well, so it looks like spring is not totally here yet. Here it is also still cold and with a lot of clouds. Not that easy to go tou to take pictures. We still do have to be petient. But at least you got a nice birding day and fresh air.
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