Friday 23 October 2009

I only had a 90 minute wander through my patch today, I took the same route as the past few days, but it was bit rushed. Once again the small holding had a good few species of birds, 3 JAYS squawked noisily as I arrived, and TREECREEPER, NUTHATCH, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, a flock of around 8 CHAFFINCH, as well as the usual, WREN, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, BLUE and GREAT TIT, were all seen, still no Fieldfare or Redwing with them though, maybe i'll see these over the weekend.

The wet woods had a few GOLDCREST again, and a loose flock of feeding birds were on the southern edge, mostly Blue and Great tits, but also a COAL TIT and a pair of Treecreepers.

Onto the lake and scrub area, where 25 CANADA GEESE were spread beween the main lake and one of the two smaller ponds, I was well happy to see that the BARNACLE GOOSE had rejoined them, great little geese to see! Just 3 MALLARD and two MOORHEN were the only other water species seen. A quick look around the scrub, in hope of a Brambling, was only rewarded with a couple of BULLFINCH, and more Tits, wrens, Robins and Dunnocks.

A visit to Migrant Alley, was quite productive, especially around the tall hedge and into the greenhouse complex grounds. 3 GREEN WOODPECKERS were seen, a flock of 14 GOLDFINCH, 3 LINNETS, and a single MEADOW PIPIT, the occassional lone calling SKYLARK went over, and the PIED WAGTAILS chased anything that flew near them, including a WOODPIGEON, quite comical to see! I also noticed the KESTREL was up hunting over the tree nursery, as I had a quick sky-scan. The only other thing to report was a LITTLE OWL that called from the small holding as I was walking home along Ashes Lane.

The weather looks a bit wet and windy first thing tomorrow, but i'll try and get out anyway, even if its later.


Green Woodpeckers were the most obvious bird today, so I took a few pics. Just for Mike of http://www.fenphotos.blogspot.com/

These two were having a staring match!
Below are four of the Goldfinch flock, feeding on the wild areas around the Greehouses.




12 comments:

Chris said...

2 woodpeckers for the price of one!! Cool well done on these pictures.. I never managed to get one single shot of green woodpecker... Here birding is not really nice at the moment. Although I'm surveying two European robins in our area... it is raining all the time!!

Simon said...

Well done on getting a shot of 2 Green Woodpeckers together! I wonder how long the Barncale Goose will stay?!

Fraser Simpson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fraser Simpson said...

Really like your shot of the Green Woodpeckers with their reptile-like pose.

Anonymous said...

Wish my Greenies would pose like that, Warren. Well captured.

Not looking forward to tomorrows rain, and like you, it might be a late patch visit.

Sharon said...

Great photos of the Green Woodpeckers, Warren. Love the Goldfinches too, they always remind me of a more exotic bird! We've had torrential rain just about all week in Ireland so I'm glad the UK are getting it tomorrow (sorry!)

Anonymous said...

Very nice photos. I also went over to see Mike's place and was impressed.

Pete Woodruff said...

Just to let you see I'm looking in again and enjoyed your latest account Warren. Many thanks as ever for comments on Birds2blog.

Enjoy your birding whatever else you don't.

Jann said...

Again, I just love your green woodpecker, very colorful! Nice going!

Kelly said...

...your Green Woodpecker photos are gorgeous. I think I'd like to paint that bird some day. He is so unique looking to me. I'm just not used to seeing woodpeckers dressed in green!

ShySongbird said...

Lovely Woodpecker photos Warren! It is wet and increasingly windy here today with only brief spells of sunshine. I hope your day has turned out better than expected.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Waren: Your Green Woodpecker is really special. I don't see green birds that I remember.