Saturday 12 December 2009

My first full patch walk of December was an enjoyable one, despite the showers which passed through. 45 species were recorded, the very first being GOLDCREST, two of which were in the hedgerow opposite my house, not often they grace the top of the list!

I watched the LINNETS leaving their roost at the tree nursery, and counted 48, but I missed a few! The next species on the list was a bit of a surprise, as I left the tree nursery, both PEREGRINES flew over, brilliant! I thought they may have left the area as I havn't seen them since October.

Crossing Migrant Alley, all was very quiet, and it felt cool in the NE wind, I heard the call of SKYLARKS above me and saw 3 go over, but more interesting was the 2 LAPWING that were just above them, another species not seen since October.

I added more common species to the day list as I walked through the college grounds, but I was surprised by the lack of FIELDFARE around, just 2 were seen, REDWING, however were more numerous with several small groups seen. Another new species for the month was seen on one of the small ponds in the college gardens - a KINGFISHER, too quick for my camera though.

The second part of my walk, through the small holding, wet woods, and lake area yielded PHEASANT, BULLFINCH, COAL TIT, MARSH TIT and 3 TREECREEPERS for the daylist, as well as MALLARD and MOORHEN which were on the lake, however, there weren't any nice surprises swimming with them!

I managed a few garden photo's today, below is a feeder full of finch's, with a GREAT TIT and a HOUSE SPARROW





Above is a WOODPIGEON, and below one of the many BLUE TITS that were around


Below is a GREENFINCH



A STARLING is next..........






and lastly, a nice surprise was the return of the Moorhen









9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice one, Warren.
Can you spare one of those Peregrines ?

Warren Baker said...

The peregrines are MINE, all MINE!!

Phil said...

If you can't spare the Peregrines Warren, could you spare a goldcrest and a couple of Linnets please?

Phil

ShySongbird said...

One Goldcrest and one Linnet would do me nicely Warren, now that's not too much to ask is it? ;)

Lovely to see your garden feeders so busy and I suspect if the promised cold snap comes they will stay busy.

Warren Baker said...

Phil & Songbird - The Linnets come in at dusk to roost, then leave at dawn. However, there are none to be found on my patch during the day! They must disperse all over the county.

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Goldcrest - nice one very few about up here so far this season! Bet a full patch walk feels good, 12th of the month that's surely some sort of record too.

Glad your back in the land of the living

D

Pete Woodruff said...

A good first full patch walk for the month Warren and your 45 species listed also including a ringed Greenfinch I note.

Chris said...

Hi Warren,
So what you do not want to share the peregrines ;-) Well done on your number and I love to see the diversity around your feeders. Same thing here, raining heavily and no light with these low clouds!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Warren: When I was in Florida I took photos of a brown Moorhen that I thought was a duck. That was until I saw the feet on the enlarged photo.