Sunday 23 February 2014

Merlin Magic

If you have add a species to the patch list then the fantastic male Merlin that hurtled through the patch on Thursday is a good one to do it with ! .It was heading due north so perhaps it was the first noticeable spring migrant, its the third patch record for this bird and I love them .
So the other midweek highlight was a Tawny Owl that was calling early afternoon , a larger flock of 250 plus Fieldfare heading north east  and the wintering flock of Starlings which is at a steady 500 to 700 birds , they soon will be heading to the north for the summer .
Saturday dawned like a spring day, sunshine, light winds ,snowdrops in almost every available space and the first Lambs on the pasture.
It was therefore a little disappointing to find that it was a quiet walk .The local Buzzards are much more in evidence with 3 around the patch today and the other raptor was a male Kestrel which passed over.
Winter Thrushes were 10 plus Redwing and 117 plus Fieldfare and 250 plus Starling keeping them company on the wet pasture.
Linnets are back with a singing bird  and 2 others floating about ,but I also discovered a flock 32 on the top fields ,wintering or passage birds  are my guess . 7 Skylarks (4 singers ) are still trying to kick start spring but there were only 6 Meadow Pipits today ,the rest of them must have started heading northwards to their breeding grounds.
The best of the rest were a Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush,  3 Red Legged Partridge, 3 Stock Dove ,Bullfinch ,Pied Wagtail over and still 2 Moorhen.
Sunday and it was back to wind and heavy showers and again it was quiet ,that been said there was a large flock of 200 plus Fieldfare, 300 plus Redwing and 200 plus Starling all feeding on the pasture near the cottage this morning.
Skylarks numbered 12 with again a fair few singers. Meadow Pipits just 4 today. The rest of a rather paltry list (highlights only), were Pied Wagtail ,calling Bullfinch, Buzzard, 2 Stock Dove .Lets hope things start picking up soon .
The patch list advances to 54

Monday 17 February 2014

Sunshine !

Sunday was like waking up in a different world , bright sunny skies, no wind ,a slight frost. Willow and I were out by 7.30am and we were rewarded with a really great walk on the patch .
Winter Thrushes were still in evidence but in reduced numbers this morning with 120 plus Fieldfare and 50 plus Redwing around . The Starling flock likewise was lesser in numbers with 260 plus present.
On the pasture were 6 Red Legged Partridge, 8 Stock Dove , one flyover Pied Wagtail and a good count of 25 plus Skylark . There was a single bird and two pairs and a flock of 20 plus winter visitors on the usual pasture, it is more difficult to see them at the moment because there are sheep on the grass at the moment.
A Green Woodpecker was calling at the same time as a Greater Spotted Woodpecker was drumming , spring is just round the corner as there was plenty of bird song this morning and the woodpeckers were joining in on the first decent morning in weeks.
On the floodwaters the most notable birds were the flock of Black Headed Gulls which today numbered 90 plus and 2 separate Moorhens bobbing about. A Raven passed eastwards towards Cleeve Hill ,the first I have seen for a few days.
As we ambled over the fields a Brown Hare exploded from its scrape, Willow just smiled and did not bother to give chase. On reaching the old orchard my attention was drawn to a small flock of birds  that were calling and acting in an agitated manner (Chaffinch ,Blue Tit ,Great Tit , Robin) ,a sure sign that a bird of prey is present or an Owl is roosting within one of the old Apple trees, sure enough as I stared at the tree I found myself in a staring contest with a Little Owl ! number 53 in the bag.
This was turning out to be a cracking walk and it was to get better as we rounded a hedgerow we found ourselves face to face with a large dog Fox, it was in superb condition .
We moved to the edge of our patch over some stubble fields and my eye was drawn to a flock of birds that flew into a hedgerow from the stubble, it was great to see a flock of 10 Yellowhammers the largest number seen on the patch ever . The final birds of note were the small flock of wintering Chaffinch that is present at the moment ,although only 15 plus birds it is the only flock we have had this winter, last year we had flocks of 200 plus on occasions. One final thought where have the Meadow Pipits gone ?
The patch list now stands at 53

Saturday 15 February 2014

Breaking the half century

Hello, and welcome to this weeks update from an increasingly wet and flooded patch .The last week has been another week of driving rain and gale force winds, the ground is a sodden muddy swamp and a number of trees have fallen foul of the winds .
After helping build a sandbag wall to help keep the village from flooding the 51st species for this year on the patch came in the form of 2 Tawny Owls calling to each other ,a nice way to get over the 50 barrier.
After the storm on Friday ,I was out on the patch fairly early and out  it was fairly obvious the winter thrush numbers are still high on the patch with a average number of 56 plus Redwing around but this was dwarfed by the large numbers of Fieldfare present with 550 plus seen. They were supported by 850 plus Starling .A solitary Mistle Thrush was also seen.
Species 52 for the year came in the form of 2 Shelduck which were on the floodwater ,a good bird for the patch and only the second record here. A couple of Moorhen were nice again a product of the floods . The Black Headed Gull flock has reduced in number with 65 plus today.
Apart from that it was hard going with the weather although 6 plus Skylarks were about ,a number even daring to sing . 5 plus Stock Dove and a Pied Wagtail made up the best of the rest.
The patch total now stands at 52.

Sunday 9 February 2014

Come in number 50 your time is up !

Well the last week has been hard going on the patch with the weather being crap and really crap with heavy rain and high winds , the whole area is heavily flooded and the higher ground were we are is just a muddy morass .
The main highlight of midweek was a large flock of 1700 plus Starlings which were feeding on a partially flooded field ,the rest of the usual birds being present in small numbers.
So Saturday dawned bright but windy and the first bird seen was number 50 for the patch ,a Grey Heron passed over then dropped onto the flood edge and began feeding, keeping it company were  350 plus Black Headed Gulls with  Common and Lesser Black Backed Gulls sprinkled in for good measure.
On the pastureland 4 Linnet passed over ,and just 7 Meadow Pipits were about . The star sighting was a superb Brown Hare which sprung from its scrape as Willow and I got near. Willow just looked at me and did not even bother to take up the chase. Skylarks were at 12  birds with one daring to sing for a brief moment.
In an old orchard a fine mixed flock of 250 plus Starling, 50 plus Redwing and 40 Fieldfare were feeding on the ground underneath the old apple trees.
The best of the rest were 7 Stock Dove, 3 Red Legged Partridge, Buzzard and a flock of 25 plus Woodpigeon .
Sunday early morning was windy but apart from the odd shower dry .
Winter Thrushes were back in number with 350 plus Fieldfare, 100 plus Redwing and tagging along 100 plus Starling ,many of these birds will head in the same direction in a few short weeks ,back up to Scandanavia for the summer months .
The flood waters have risen and a large flock of 400 plus Black Headed Gulls were feeding and a small flock of 10 Lapwing flapped lazily towards the flooded river meadows .
On the pastures were 9 Meadow  Pipits and 22 plus Skylarks with up to 3 singers ,spring is on its way or so the Skylarks would have us believe .
The first winter flock of Chaffinch were found with 20 plus feeding in a sheltered spot, we would of expected to have seen larger flocks at this time of year ,but not this year so far .
The best of the rest were a Green Woodpecker, Buzzard, Stock Dove Pied Wagtail .
 The  patch list now stands at . 50

Sunday 2 February 2014

Two patch ticks

What a difference a day makes ! Bright sunshine, slight breeze and no rain ! .With the better weather came the birds and the first bird seen was a patch and year tick  ,it came in the form of a cracking Grey Wagtail feeding on semi flooded pasture .
As the walk progressed it became obvious that there were plenty of birds around at least 1000 plus Starling 400 plus Fieldfares and 250 plus Redwings on pastureland or feeding in the hedges. 2 Mistle Thrushes were keeping them company as well.
It was nice to see the first Bullfinches in a while with 2 been seen and an unseen Moorhen called from a flooded field .
The top fields are a mess ,mud and standing water making going tough but there were a flock of 9 Pied Wagtails and 40 plus Meadow Pipits feeding there. On the usual field 20 plus Skylarks were feeding and one gave brief song maybe hoping to kick start spring.
The raptor flag was flown by 2 Buzzards and a female Kestrel which passed over.
On the flooded fields 5 Mute Swans and small groups of Mallard were feeding and a large flock of 500 plus Black Headed Gulls were feeding on the edge of the water, it was a flock took off and headed over me that 1 Gull caught my attention and I was surprised to see that it was indeed an adult winter plumaged Mediterranean Gull , a great bird and my second patch tick of the day
The best of the rest were Green Woodpecker ,Greater Spotted Woodpecker Linnet ,5 northern looking Lesser Black Backed Gulls ,3 Stock Dove .
The species total for the year jumps to 49

Saturday 1 February 2014

Thrushtastic

As usual the weather is horrific, howling winds driving rain ,the usual really. The flood waters have risen once again after falling over the last few days.
As the title says there were good numbers of winter Thrushes with Redwing 350 plus and Fieldfares supporting with 300 plus. A great sight . Also on the sodden pastures were 200 plus Starling . Theses were the birds that dominated with small passerines keeping their heads down in the howling winds.
The numbers of Skylarks were 7 and there were 8 Meadow Pipits in the long grass .
Over the flood waters were 135 plus Black Headed Gulls and a loose flock of 40 plus Wigeon flew downriver .
On the large puddles in the fields were 10 plus Pied Wagtails and in the hedges were a flock of 50 plus Woodpigeon with 3 Stock Doves tagging along.
It was nice to see a flock of 10 Goldfinches overhead .We appear to be a good few species down on this time last year, I suppose that is the consequence of this mild wet winter.