Monday 25 January 2016

A very mild, windless morning, with long sunny spells allowed for a long full patch walk today.


The sun is creeping up above the horizon ever earlier now  :-)



The sky was seemingly ablaze at one point

Todays 4 and a half hour full patch walk yielded 42 species, a bit disappointing, when the likes of Bullfinch, Pheasant, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Redwing and Yellowhammer among others, were not seen today, when they were about yesterday!

The LITTLE OWL was seen at its roosting site in the old shack at the Ashes Lane Fields as I was taking the photo's of the sunrise, the half dozen MEADOW PIPITS were out on the pasture there too, along with a dozen FIELDFARE.

The pleasant morning was made more so when, as yesterday, plenty of species sang or called, from the Wet Woods and Scrubby Woods, including MISTLETHRUSH, SONGTHRUSH, WREN, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, COAL TIT, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST, NUTHATCH and STOCK DOVE, plus the drumming of the GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, making it all very springlike.


The Treecreepers are proving quite a challenge to get a good photo of, but i'll keep trying  :-)

Over on the lakes there were no surprises, but the regular GOOSANDER trio of 2 males and a female were back, I took a few distant shots of them.......


The males are absolutely stunning


The females aren't too shabby either!

The rest of the walk was relatively quiet, the most notable species seen being ; 12-15 SISKIN at the Greenhouse Grounds, where the only LONG TAILED TITS were seen passing through, a couple of flyover SKYLARK, a flyover LESSER REDPOLL, a skein of 9 flyover GREYLAG GEESE and 3 BUZZARDS that were up soaring together over Migrant Alley.


One of the 3 Buzzards seen today, a bit distant!


HOUSE SPARROW. Now a notable species to see on my patch!

2 comments:

Pete Woodruff said...

Brilliant early morning sunrise shots Warren, and yes, the drake Goosander is a stunner.

Warren Baker said...

Cheers Pete,
Could do with a few more sunrises like that !