Monday 17 November 2014

White Ghost

Sorry for the late update, but I have been feeling under the weather so have not felt like updating the blog. Last week although generally quiet did have a couple of high lights the chief one being a superb Barn Owl which has been hunting along the field margins beside the magic hedge. Its also fair to say that winter Thrushes have arrived on mass with good counts of both Redwing and Fieldfares during the week .
By the time Willow and I managed to get out onto the patch Saturday it was mid morning ,much later than is normal and in truth I did not expect to see much given the migration season is all but finished .
In the hedges I still managed to find 11 Robins dotted about, the winterers having now settled in for next few months. A good count of 4 Bullfinch were seen ,their fan should be smiling for a while .
On the Thrush side 20 plus Blackbirds were about although a neighbour tells me he had counted a whooping 40 in a small copse next to his house the morning before so maybe they are still arriving .Their northern cousins put in a good show with 238 plus Fieldfare and 60 Redwing ,5 Mistle Thrush and a sprinkling of Song Thrush completed the set for the day.
On the pastures 21 plus Skylark were  nice to see ,although there were more around but I did not connect with them ,also seen was a good count of 12 Stock Dove on the stubble.
The only other birds worth a mention were a Green Woodpecker and a very vocal female Kestrel which was getting a good kicking from the local Jackdaws . There were a small number of Meadow Pipits with 5 been seen and 6 Pied wagtail bounced around the area.
A small flock of 9 Linnet seem to be wintering and a flock of 250 plus Starling were on pasture'. The final 2 birds seen were 2 Buzzards which sat  in a dead tree like the Vultures in Jungle Book.
Sunday dawned mild and grey ,still no frost .It appeared that Blackbirds had arrived overnight with 10 just on the lawn and in the end I counted 35 plus in the end ,there must be have been more around . Other Thrush seen were 102 plus Redwing and again 238 plus Fieldfare and 2 Mistle Thrush . Starlings stayed at 270 plus on the pasture , still  way down on previous years.
Other winter visitors about were 12 plus Robin dotted around in the hedges .
It was overhead which surprised me with 768 Woodpigeons moving east or south east, maybe I had missed more yesterday morning with the late start ,but it seems very late for a count of this size.
Just 3 Meadow Pipits moved over but not in any particular direction , so they must be wintering birds.
A Raven was heard ,the first for a few days and 2 Jay were heard but not seen . 16 Skylark were on the top fields and 3 Pied Wagtails were feeding in the same fields.
The usual invisible Green Woodpecker called and the local pair of Buzzards scanned the area. The final bird was the best of the day when a female Blackcap showed in the garden for a short while .A nice sighting for the time of year .
So lets hope we get some cold weather and then a few wanderers may appear on the patch