Back to this morning, and it was dry and bright to start with, but variable amounts of cloud drifted in, and a blustery wind set in. Once again a good haul of species were found, 54 in all, i'm having a real good run of late. The tall hedge was once again holding a REED WARBLER, and another scarce migrant for my patch, SAND MARTIN was seen as 4 birds flew south into the wind. The only other passage bird around was a WILLOW WARBLER that was seen at the college grounds, although it may well of been the one seen over the last 3 visits. Also in the college grounds the SPOTTED FLYCATCHER family were seen, they were with a feeding flock, smaller than yesterdays, but still included GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, CHIFFCHAFF and the already mentioned Willow Warbler.
The HOBBY that chases PIED WAGTAILS for breakfast was seen again, this time it had made a kill and was speeding off to the west. Three other raptor species were seen, a really good total for my inland patch, KESTREL, SPARROWHAWK and a low flying COMMON BUZZARD that flew over the college as I looked back from Migrant Alley.
The second half visit was also productive, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, BLACKCAP and LESSER WHITETHROAT were seen at the lakeside scrub, and a single TURTLE DOVE flew over, this may well be the last one I see this year, last years final sighting was on the 22nd Aug. I didn't find a Garden Warbler, but they quite frequently leave my patch before the end of Aug. Only once in the eight years of recording has one been found in Sept.
I had hoped that one day this week I would get to the 60 species in a day mark, but I think the peak has been reached now, the closest I came was yesterday, when the 56 species could have been added to if the Kestrel, Turtle Dove, and Sand Martin - all seen today, and the Mistle Thrush, which hasn't been seen since the 16th had shown themselves. However ive still got 3 days holiday left so maybe there is time!
despite all the birds about, it was one of those days that photo opportunities were few, or missed ! The only one I got was of this HERRING GULL going over!
5 comments:
Warren ,
You did very well indeed , especially with that wind .
54 species, even if we do have some nice specific species here, I sometime envy you to get all these species. At the moment, Iceland is quite empty even from its common species so my year count is stuck at 84!! I have to make some effort to go to 85!!! Let's hope next week-end when I'll go in the country!
Wow, I liked the post the other day too.
This post with all the information is interesting. This would be a bad year for me to count the different kinds of birds that land in my backyard. Most of them are sparrows with one of this and one of that. I have alist some where that shows or tell s the number of different birds Iusually see here.
What a brilliant total and lovely photo of the Herring Gull! Also that was a stunning photo of the Bullfinch on the previous post Warren.
I agree with you that the Wood Pigeon is often overlooked along with many of our other 'common' (usually garden) birds, I suppose if we didn't see them so regularly they might be more appreciated!
There`s always time, Warren.
Nice pic of he Herring Gull.
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