Monday 25 January 2010

Above is one of the 5 Treecreepers that I found today, I took loads of photo's of them, but this poor effort is the best, the shutter speed got up to 30 on this shot!

Another dreary afternoon!
I walked my usual 'winter' walk over to the lake area, desperately trying to find some kind of duck species to add to the year list other than MALLARD, of which there were 2 pairs. A single MOORHEN was also seen, but nothing more exciting than that, oh for a patch of Phragmities Reed, or a bit of weed in the lake, i'm sure this would transform it!

I spent a good deal of time in the wet woods, looking for a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, or maybe a Firecrest, i'll need at least one of these very rare species (for my patch) if i'm going to have a chance of getting to 100 species this year. Alas neither of them were seen, but the other two Woodpecker species were very obvious, the GREATER SPOTTED and GREEN WOODPECKER were both calling loudly. I came across COAL TITS, BLUE TITS, GREAT TITS, LONG TAILED TITS, as well as NUTHATCH, at least 5 TREECREEPERS and a flock of 6 BULLFINCH'S feeding on ash keys, all very nice but nothing to add to the year list. I also scanned all the likely roosting places that may have been hiding a Tawny Owl, but no luck there either. So having spent the best part of an hour in the woods, my fingers numbed and cold, I set off back home, just a little dispondent. :-(

Tomorrow afternoon I meet the Tree Preservation Officer - should be interesting.

7 comments:

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Another dreary day for the camera .
Good luck with the TPO tomorrow .

swatson said...

what a lovely photo of the treecreeper warren and bullfinches too.Well done
Sheila

ShySongbird said...

Well done with the Treecreeper Warren, I would be happy just to see one! Too dreary here for photos also.

Very good luck for tomorrow, I will be there in spirit :)

Phil said...

My year list has ground to a halt at the moment Warren but spring is just around the corner. Good luck tomorrow!
Phil

Sharon said...

Lovely photo of the Treecreeper Warren, I always have difficulty seeing them, they're so well camouflaged!
Good luck tomorrow!

Chris said...

Hi Warren,
I see you really are targeting 100 species this year!!! And look for rare species.. ;-) I've to say that I'll try to do so too but for some reasons this has no started so well even if I have 35 in the pipe now! We will see! Good luck for tomorrow!

Anonymous said...

Yeh, good luck with the meeting Warren. Hope that doesn`t interfere with the patch walk.