Although the sun was out, it felt cold in the wind as I walked a circuit of Migrant Alley, there wasn't an awful lot to be seen truth be told, just a few early ROOKS, JACKDAWS and CARRION CROWS on the sheep pasture. A few BLACK HEADED GULLS started to arrive also, and the odd HERRING GULL flew low over, a GREY HERON flew over towards the lakes too.
The Wooded Headland to the north of the paddocks had the regular ROBINS, DUNNOCKS, BLACKBIRDS, CHAFFINCH and WRENS, plus a couple of BULLFINCH and a singing CHIFFCHAFF, but no sign of a migrant Blackcap yet.
Passing the Greenhouse Copse, their was no sign of the Little Owl in its roost tree, but both GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS called from the cover of the trees. I headed over to the Pub Field, which had been harrowed, so I thought maybe it would have attracted a few bird species, but nothing except Rooks and Jackdaws were on it. Hopping over the fence into the Ashes Lane field I saw the LITTLE OWL back on the old shack, but apart from a singing SKYLARK it was all very quiet out there.
Later in the morning I and a friend arrived at the Bough Beech reservoir, by now it was mostly cloudy with a moderate cool wind, out on the water it was good to get re-acquainted with the likes of GREAT CRESTED GREBE, SHOVELER DUCK, TUFTED DUCK, and SHELDUCK all rarely seen on my patch if ever :-) A few CORMORANTS sat about, and a pair of MUTE SWAN mingled with the CANADA GEESE, but again, as I had discovered earlier, it was on the whole very quiet even here.
A short walk up the road to the visitors center and a look at the small wader pool was good for a few photo opportunities, manly due to the feeders there, which were almost depleted. Not much too report from here really though, a few singing CHIFFCHAFS were the only spring arrivals, a lone LAPWING, 3 TEAL, a LITTLE EGRET, a nesting pair of COOTS, a couple of over flying BUZZARDS and a KESTREL were the best of it.
Looks like this cool showery weather is here until the weekend, so I dont expect to see anything of the spring migrants until at least then.
Photo's from Bough Beech.......
 |
| It was good to see a small colony of HOUSE SPARROWS |
 |
| House Sparrow |
 |
| House Sparrow |
 |
| House Sparrow |
 |
| PHEASANT |
 |
| Pheasant |
4 comments:
Warren ,
See you found my House Sparrows .
Looks like you found the same as me on the water , very little to excite .
Hi Greenie,
Its a funny old place, Bough Beech, best when there is little water in the reservoir!
Hi Warren,
There was an LRP on the Res yesterday which flew up to the dam end... as I was informed by text yesterday by one of the regulars.
Hi Greenie... haven't seen you for... well at least two days.
Warren... is the little owl on it's own or has it a mate??
Rgds — John
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plumberjohn/
John,
The Little Owl Does has a mate, there are also two other pairs on my patch, I have heard them all ''duetting'' over the past few weeks :-)
Post a Comment