Tuesday 28 October 2014

Where is Autumn ? Monday and Tuesday update

The weather is mental , so warm it feels like a May day and I was out with Willow at just after 7am, I was awoken at 6.10am by a very vocal Tawny Owl calling from just behind the house .As we left the cottage the shed door was wide opened and for a brief moment I thought that the shed had been forcibly entered but it was just that my youngest had left it wide open when putting his bike away .
Overall the walk was a quiet one in keeping with the general theme at the moment ,but there were a few birds moving overhead .Woodpigeons passed south but in truth I could only pick out 158 plus as they passed to the south. There were a few local birds feeding on stubble fields but I did not count them .
Linnets passed south in fair numbers with 40 plus ,and there was a constant trickle of Chaffinches passing south west with 40 plus seen in small flocks. Likewise 3Greenfinches and 12 plus Goldfinches did likewise, but I could not find anything else more exciting. 
On the pastures the wintering flock of 20 plus Skylarks wee still on station and a sprinkle of Meadow Pipits amounted to 10 .
We still have a few more Stock Doves than normal with 13 plus around the patch . In the hedges were 13 plus Robin and 6 plus Blackbirds both species showing a decrease over the last few days, some birds having moved on .
A single Raven was nice to see and 3 Mistle Thrushes passed over heading southwards .Still only very small numbers of Redwings with again just 7 seen today.
The best bird however was seen as I was going back into the cottage when a small bird caught my eye as it flitted about in one of the garden Beech trees , quickly getting the binos onto it I  confirmed it to be a Goldcrest ,a great bird for the garden.
The best of the rest for a quiet Monday morning were a Jay, Kestrel ,Green Woodpecker Greater Spotted Woodpecker ,3 Buzzard and just 4 Pied Wagtails .So you can see we are in the doldrums at the moment and until the weather changes then it looks as if it will stay that way.
Tuesday dawned clear and if anything even milder ! .The bird life proved to show a few subtle changes from Monday and a couple of patch gems were seen .
In the hedges were 19 plus Blackbirds and a whooping 20 plus Robins a jump in numbers from yesterday .A good sighting of  a fine male Yellowhammer was nice to see and a party of 3 Bullfinch flew over calling  northwards .Yet again a superb female/immature Stonechat graced the hedges ,we have had a cracking Autumn for these little gems.
Overhead a party of 4 Raven gronked its way south west , the best number for a while. Two flocks of Woodpigeons passed over to the south with just a small total of 40 birds this morning ,although I know others birders have seen large numbers this morning.
A single Mistle Thrush powered south looking as if he was on a promise somewhere and the Autumns first Lapwing moved serenely southwards .
There was a fairly constant westwards movement of Starling s this morning with 160 plus passing over maybe a promise of whats to come.
On the pastures  were 24 plus Meadow Pipits and there were more Skylarks than of late with 28 plus ,some moving over straight southwards.
A superb female Sparrow Hawk flushed 9 plus Pied wagtails and 28 plus Linnets off a field as it looked for breakfast. Other birds seen on the fields were 5 Red Legged Partridge and 10 Stock Dove.
A lone Jay headed south east and a few Redwing were dotted about with 13 plus seen today.
The best of todays other birds were 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, the usual Green Woodpecker and 3 Buzzard .
Lets hope things pick up soon