Heavy cloud cover and spits of rain greeted me this morning, only late in the afternoon did any glimmer of brightness appear.
I carried out a full patch walk, which lasted 5 hours, in that time a relatively poor tally of 45 species was found, I would expect to be getting 50 plus at this time of year. There were fewer birds to be found as well,, with common and regular species such as CHAFFINCH, GREAT TIT, DUNNOCK, CHIFFCHAFF and even ROBIN proving quite elusive today.
There were some highlights for the visit however, the best being the first YELLOW WAGTAIL (63) of the Autumn, which flew over the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley, a GREY WAGTAIL was seen flying from the Greenhouse Grounds, while PIED WAGTAILS left their roost from the greenhouses as the automatic windows released them, giving me all three Wagtail species on the same visit, always nice to get! There were also 4 WHITETHROATS and at least 4 GREEN WOODPECKERS about the place.
Flyovers were few, notable species for here, were CORMORANT, HERRING GULL, BLACK HEADED GULL and HOUSE MARTIN, plus the only two raptors for the day, BUZZARD and KESTREL.
A KINGFISHER was seen flying across the main lake, were 7 MALLARD, 4 MOORHENS, 4 CANADA GEESE and a GREY HERON were also present. A mixed feeding flock in the Wet Woods contained just BLUE TITS, TREECREEPER, GREAT TIT, GOLDCREST and NUTHATCH, the Scrubby Woods had plenty of BLACKCAPS feeding on the Elder Berries, along with the odd CHIFFCHAFF, plus calls of STOCK DOVE, JAY, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, and BULLFINCH were heard there.
Worth a mention is the number of GREENFINCHES seen at my garden feeding station early this afternoon, no less than 23, nothing on the 70+ seen seven or eight years ago, but better numbers than of recent years, also a COAL TIT turned up, the first since May.
Once again nothing for the camera today in the dire light!
6 comments:
I noticed an upturn of Greenfinch numbers on my feeders too Warren. A long way to go to get back to your historic numbers though.
On the subject of Green Woodpeckers - We just got back from a holiday in Dorset, as well as the nightjars, one of the things that struck was how common Green Woodpeckers were - we saw loads. Up here in South Lancs Green Woodpecker is almost a mega!
Phil,
As long as that disease keeps away, ( and the Sprawk!) numbers could bounce back :-)
Phil,
I read that GW are extending their range northwards, good to see a species increasing!
How do you do for Lesser Spotteds? That's even more of a mega round here - I haven't seen one for 3 years - used to get them fairly regularly in the Wilmslow Garden. Oh... one of the other things that Green Woodpeckers need to steer clear of is joy riding weasles.
Phil,
Lesser Spots are now extinct on my patch. The last one I saw was in December 2009, the last pair bred here in 2002. Plenty of Weasels though, but yet to see one hitching a lift on a Green Woodpecker!
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