I was out for over 6 hours today, carrying out a full patch walk, which yielded me very good tally of 46 species, unfortunately none were new for the month or year list though.
I was pleased to see the COOT at the ornamental lake has found itself a mate, hopefully breeding will take place again this year, nothing else much of note was on the water, though 7 CANADA GEESE were visiting.
The Wet Woods and Scrubby Woods were filled with song and spring calls today, with CHAFFINCH, GREENFINCH, GREAT TIT, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST, SONGTHRUSH, BLACKBIRD, MISTLETHRUSH, STOCK DOVE, GREEN WOODPECKER, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, WREN, ROBIN and DUNNOCK all calling or singing, only Coal Tit was not recorded, but the two - three pairs on my patch were probably about somewhere.
I also saw the GREY WAGTAIL in the Wet Woods and spent 40 minutes trying to photograph it in the difficult dappled light, not the best results but ok to look at :-)
Grey Wagtail in the Wet Woods
When the Grey Wag crossed into the dappled sunlight, it glowed like a yellow light, over exposing all my shots!
Even with the exposure compensation at -1 the shots came out over exposed :-(
Moving onto the fields and farmland there were still plenty of FIELDFARE moving around, with smaller numbers of REDWING. There were 15 MEADOW PIPITS that had returned to the Ashes Lane Field, at one pint being chased by the male SPARROWHAWK. The KESTREL pair were at their usual place - the Greenhouse Grounds, where I also saw a pair of BULLFINCHES and four LONG TAILED TITS. The LITTLE OWL was in the Greenhouse Copse, but out on the sheep pasture and paddocks of Migrant Alley only 2 COMMON GULLS were of much interest, the only BLACK HEADED GULLS and HERRING GULLS today involved a few flyovers, other flyovers seen included SKYLARK, YELLOWHAMMER, PIED WAGTAIL and at least 3 different BUZZARDS.
I spent most of this afternoon trying to get some garden bird images to brighten future blog posts, which I succeeded in doing, with some shots of the COAL TIT which was missing on this mornings walk, as well as some of the other regulars, which should keep the blog posts illustrated ;-)
11 comments:
Nice Wagtail shots. That habitat looks nice too in those shots. The singing is all starting now.
Cracking little Grey Wag,Warren.
Marc,
The habitat is the wet woods always looks like it may give up a scarce bird, but hasn't yet - apart from a couple of Firecrests, too many unleashed dogs running about :-(
Thanks Steve,
Hopefully i'll get some more efforts before it leaves to breed in the spring :-)
I noticed some Meadow Pipits back in the paddocks here on the weekend...things are starting to move now mate!
'A joy to be out'....says it all Warren. And although on a down note, as does 'too many unleashed dogs running about'.
As I see it here in Kent, one problem is too many unleashed photographers, who, despite the size of their lens, still have to disturb birds by getting as close as physically possible. Some are a real nuisance.
Jase,
Cant wait for some summer birds to arrive :-)
Pete,
At least I dont have to compete with your ''dog woman'' most owners here walk (let loose) their dogs one at a time!
Derek,
Like you are not a ''nuisance'' dog owner - I am not a ''nuisance'' photographer!
It wasn't you I had in mind Warren, but there's a few real shockers out there.
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