It was to the Lakes and Scrubby Woods I went first, via the Small Holding and Wet woods, which produced the following species :-
WOODPIGEON, JACKDAW, STARLING, GREENFINCH, CHAFFINCH, COLLARED DOVE, BLACKBIRD, HOUSE SPARROW, GREAT TIT, ROBIN, SONGTHRUSH, MAGPIE, CARRION CROW, MISTLE THRUSH, WREN, BLUE TIT, JAY, STOCK DOVE and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER - in that order :-)
Arriving at the lakes, I was happy to see all the ice had gone, but just two MALLARD, two MOORHEN, and a COOT were present today, four GREYLAG GEESE flew over, as did two CANADA GEESE, but they didn't come to the water, another Cormorant circled round the 3 lakes, but that didn't alight either :-( A trip around the Scrubby Woods, added the likes of DUNNOCK, NUTHATCH, GOLDCREST, BULLFINCH, COAL TIT, PHEASANT, and TREECREEPER to the days list, nothing to out of the ordinary.
The Tree Nursery, Pub Field, Greenhouse Complex and Migrant Alley were all intensively searched, but just a few more species were added for the day, those being flyover BLACK HEADED and HERRING GULLS, GREEN WOODPECKER, SKYLARK, KESTREL, ( where was he yesterday!) a flock of flyover FIELDFARE around 40-50 strong, a female SPARROWHAWK, GOLDFINCH, ROOK and a solitary REDWING.
I headed home for some lunch before going out again to visit the College grounds, never a good place to visit in the afternoon, but I wanted to see if I could locate the Siskin flock in the Adler trees along the stream, they weren't there though, and none were seen at all today, I did however find a COMMON GULL on the sports pitch, and a pair of LONG TAILED TITS in the gardens, also here, on one of the small ponds, I watched my first KINGFISHER (63) of the month, bird of the day for me! The day ended on 44 species, five fewer than yesterday, I will try for 50 species tomorrow, and with luck I'll be out at sunrise!!
The two new additons to the months list bring the species total to 63, which is the 3rd best February, joint with February 2008.
Photo's today...........
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| An almost in focus Goldcrest! |
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| Another Goldcrest, a bit more in focus :-) |
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| Coot on one of the Lakes |
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| Blackbird ( chopped its feet off again!) |
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| Same Blackbird - with feet |
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| Garden Feeder Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker again :-) |
6 comments:
At least it`s not the heads you`re chopping off ;-)
Another cool woodpecker and I love the shot of the first bird. Interesting little guy. I know what you mean when you write frustration on your day off waiting for "xyz" to get fixed. Sometimes it is frustrating especially if you are on a timetable. More often than not they come later than sooner forcing you to miss the best parts of the day. Better hunting tomorrow.
Hi Warren, I'm laughing at Dean's comment :) It's very easy to chop feet off. Love the photos, you are making good use of the lens. How lovely to be able to get such close shots of a Goldcrest!
I think you were lucky with your deliveries this week, mine usually either don't come at all or much later than expected!
Songbird,
Look out for that dean bloke, he's a bit of a comic :-) 'aint ya Dean!
Certainly doing some good things with that new lens Warren!!
Not easy to get those Goldcrests Warren - I've tried! Very nice little bird.
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