I had a quick walk on Friday and managed to hear a Little Owl calling from an Oak tree at 2.20pm which was a nice record as was a garden Spotted Flycatcher which was feeding from on top one of the silver birch trees in the garden .A distant Grey Heron was the only other bird of interest in amongst the usual suspects.
Saturday dawned grey but dry and very mild .Willow and I made our way up to the patch and found in the hedges 4 Chiffchaff, 7 Whitethroat, and 4 Blackcap but apart from that very little else.
A distant Cuckoo called from the river meadows and 9 plus Swallow and 6 House Martin hawked overhead. As I walked in the vicinity of where I had seen the Yellow Wagtails ( no luck) my attention was drawn to a fence post and I was surprised to see a Little Owl sitting out in the open ,it was right next to the oak tree where I had heard one from yesterday afternoon so I guess he or she is having trouble sleeping . Nice to see though .
On the pastures 3 Pied Wagtails fed or passed over and just 3 Stock Dove were seen today. It was great to see a Fox trot across the fields , it looked in really good condition .
Overhead a patch tick and a year tick for the patch itself was seen when a Little Egret flew north at 8.50am, these birds are seen all the time locally but it is the first time on the patch itself one has been seen in the 12 years I have lived here.
A flock of 8 Greylag Geese (feral ) passed over then low and behold 2 Barnacle Geese (feral ) followed on ,another patch tick for the year ,although I have a few reservations on including plastic geese on the year list .
In the garden somehow the Blue Tits would of appeared to have managed to have fledged at least 3 young birds ,a miracle considering the nest box was on the ground at least 3 times .I have put a open fronted nest box up and although very late you never know ,it would be great if I could tempt the Flycatchers
In conversation with one of the local farmers tells me that Tawny Owls have young in one of the oaks on the on the patch, a nice confirmation of breeding on the patch
The patch list ticks on to 77
