The three and a half hours I spent out on my patch provided a few bits of note, but just the KINGFISHER (49) on the lakes was new for the December list, the Coot was still around too.
Most of the sometimes hard to find woodland species, like GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, LONG TAILED TIT, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, BULLFINCH, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and JAY were all seen in either the Scrubby Woods or Wet Woods as I looked in vain for a possible Woodcock.
The half dozen MEADOW PIPITS at the Ashes lane Field were still around, good to have them overwintering :-)
Over at the Greenhouse Grounds the large mixed finch flock of GOLDFINCH, GREENFINCH, CHAFFINCH, LESSER REDPOLL and SISKIN was again present, plus the BRAMBLING was seen with them again. I saw 6 YELLOWHAMMER in the grounds too, they seem to prefer to stay away from the feeding flock, in any case everything dispersed as the male SPARROWHAWK came through, after that not a finch was seen!
I scanned the sheep pasture and paddocks of Migrant Alley, where there were 100+ BLACK HEADED GULLS, but nothing more exciting was among them. 50-60 STARLINGS were also seen, as well as the mixed corvid flock of ROOKS and JACKDAWS that contained around 50 birds in all. A BUZZARD sent them all up, which made quite a spectacle as a couple of hundred birds wheeled across the slate grey skies.
On the way home I saw the female KESTREL on a telephone pole along Ashes Lane, she was being mobbed by an irate GREY WAGTAIL!
This afternoon I had a spell watching my garden feeders, seeing no less than 11 Lesser Redpoll and 2 SISKIN, a peak count for the former species in my garden, of course the Sparrowhawk showed up here too, but didn't catch a Redpoll :-)
No chance of photo's in this gloom and with the 'blog folder' empty, the only ones i've got have been dragged out of my recycled bin! I had deleted these for one reason or another, better than nothing though!
Garden Sprawk ( the Screw has now been removed!)
Lesser Redpoll, oh for some of that blue sky!
Another Lesser Redpoll !
7 comments:
Don't cut your wrists just yet Warren, at least you're seeing plenty of birds, more than some of us are.
Only four weeks to the Shortest Day now and get that Christmas and New Year rubbish out of the way and we're on our way to Spring.
Will the spring weather be any better Derek! God I hope so!
Many of us probably concur with that Warren. Unfortunately we don't appear to have four normal seasons any more, just a kind of long, drawn out autumn lasting about six months and then a six month long spring.
It is winter here - I have worn socks with my flip-flops a time or two and we have a light blanket on the bed. Nice to get the kingfisher on your list.
Wilma,
It's the lack of light that drives us mad here! LoL! Temperature fluctuations can be overcome, just wear more...or less!
Derek,
You're not wrong there.
Totally agree re. the light issue, it drives me nuts.
Post a Comment