Bit of movement today - 25 Meadow Pipits in the Horse Paddock plus 10+ over, a flock of 39 Skylarks moving through plus 15 or so individuals, plus all the usual suspects.
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
Horse paddocks to three sisters and back through viridor wood,13.00 15.30 18sp noted 2 kestrel 1 snipe (over) 1 sparrowhawk 4 skylark 7 grey partridge ,cracking views all feeding 2 buzzard,nice close views of one on the ground then both in flight low overhead
Bimbled round late evening with the hound - mainly the usual suspects: 40+ Woodpigeon, 5 Blackbirds, 2 Jackdaws, 2 Buzzards, 1 Kestrel, Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, 4 Meadow Pipits and 4 Mistle Thrushes
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
Whinchat this morning, east of Lily Lane/north of Riding Lane. From car park take main f/path past the 'picture frame' sculpture, after another 200-300m it was in the area on RHS looking towards Rose Farm.
Tree Pipit overhead, called twice, not seen, seemed to be heading west
the mixed finch flock on stubble at Riding Lane was 380+ strong this morning, but only seen distantly
Lesser Whitethroat early morning, showing very well in hedgerow north of Lily Lane Farm, also in the vicinity Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and 3 Coal Tit.
Over the A58, on stubble at the Lily Lane/Riding Lane junction a finch flock, of initially approx 250 birds - probably c150 Linnet and c100 Goldfinch plus the odd Greenfinch. After being spooked by a Sparrowhawk the flock broke up in to 2 or 3 smaller ones.
3 grey partridge,calling and showing well in the horse paddocks 1 lesser whitethroat,at stunning close range 3 grasshopper warbler(1 actually seen ) lots of warblers etc
Thought about Water Hen after posting, showing my age there looked in Collins guide to see only Moorhen, but checked since on good old modern internet and Water Hen is acceptable ,I saw it on water as well.
Water Hen? Does anybody bother reading anything other than their own posts on this forum? Sorry Keith but I doubt most birders under 20 will get that one without some serious researching
Water Hen With chick Jay Wood Pigeon Carrion Crow Magpie Swift Swallow Robin Willow Warbler Songthrush Blackbird Grasshopper Warbler( cracking view) good site for this elusive bird Bullfich Blackcap Long tailed tit Reed Bunting Skylark Meadow Pipit Pheasant
A Raven flew over, very high, heading south early this afternoon. Also, I heard a Golden Plover overhead, but couldn't see it against the bright blue sky.
A two hour stroll mid-day today produced nothing unusual.
Main things of interest - Two Skylark over, 7 Meadow Pipits including 2 over, a good sized flock of over 40 Goldfinches near Mortons Dairy, at least 3 Goldcrests and two Bullfinches. The tits, thrushes, Robins etc were going mad at something in the big hedge near the pond. I'd like to think it was possibly an Owl in the vicinity but am guessing its more likely a cat or something seeing as they seemed to following it through the scrub.
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
3 Pink-footed Geese dropped in to Lily Lane Farm, early afternoon, and started feeding in one of the horse paddocks. 13 more had flown over NW earlier.
Also at Lily Lane Farm, a Sparrowhawk caught a Song Thrush a couple of metres from me. The Sparrowhawk was then chased by a Buzzard, which was being mobbed by 2 Carrion Crows!
-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Sunday 7th of November 2010 07:03:53 PM
Lily Lane Farm: 2 Sparrowhawk (one of which caught a Goldfinch) 1 Snipe 1 Jackdaw 18 Starling a flock of at least 74 Swallow 14 Pied Wagtail 4 Meadow Pipit 2 Mistle Thrush 14 Linnet 19 Goldfinch (until the Sparrowhawk made it 18 Goldfinch)
Lily Lane Farm, morning: 5 Grey Partridge 2 Sparrowhawk 2 Kestrel 1 Snipe 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker 4 Jay 1 Whitethroat 2 Mistle Thrush 2 Lesser Redpoll c40 Goldfinch
Pied Wagtail numbers reduced to around 10 or 15, but Meadow Pipit numbers up to around 30. Plenty Meadow Pipit over heading south, along with a few Swallow and several Skylark.
This pm 4-6 2 Buzzards ,Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Willow warbler, Willow, Blue, Long Tailed, Great, Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow, 3 Mute Swans over, Swallow,and Rob Thorpe seen just off Riding Lane .
Early afternoon at Lily Lane Farm: 1 Little Owl (same place as yesterday when I arrived, but had gone when I was leaving) 2 Yellow Wagtail (1 fem, 1 juv) c20 Pied Wagtail a few Linnet and Goldfinch