Monday 19 November 2012

Popped in to the lake on the way home this afternoon and had a quick scan from the dam end and the first bird I saw on the water was a redhead Goosander, Great!!First one of the winter.Not much else on the lake though.

Saturday 17 November 2012

As I left the house this morning I was greeted by the sound of Fieldfares flying over the village. These were joined by the local Jackdaws coming off the roost( in all about 90).
The walk through the bean stubble in Kirkins produced a flock of about 30 Meadow Pipits with a dozen Pied Wagtails.
Down at the lake it was evident that a lot of winter Thushes had arrived as the orchard held around 1100 Fieldfares, and mixed with them I counted around 200 Redwings, 300 Starlings and lots of Chaffinches.Frustratingly, as I had no scope (it's away being repaired) I couldn't find any Bramblings but I didn't want to disturb them so I kept my distance.
The lake itself held very little but the the alder wood held a nice mixed flock which included Coal and Marsh Tit and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
A total of 41 species was seen and for a change I didn't get wet!!

Saturday 3 November 2012

I decided to let the rain clear before I started my walk this morning, so didn't leave the house till about 07.15am.
In the top field the first birds I came across were a couple of Mistle Thrushes,5 Fieldfares and 4 Redwings that I flushed from the wildlife area next to the new affordable housing. Also in this corner was a Reed Bunting, not a bad start to the day.Overhead 40 Jackdaws flew over with a couple of Rooks.As I continued towards the lake most of the commoner species were added to the list.A Kestrel was sitting on a fence post at the rear of the cottages in Furnace Lane, then something caught my attention as it flew low eastwards, a Swallow! only the second November date on the patch, the other being on 06/11/10.
In the field at the rear of the pumping station there were 300+ Woodpigeons and 9 Stock Doves.
The lake was once again quiet although the Great Crested Grebe numbers had doubled to 2. In the orchard adjacent to the lake was a flock of 300 fieldfares and 30 Chaffinches but interestingly I only saw 1 Redwing.
I decided to have a walk in the wet wood at the southern end as I could hear a Sparrowhawk calling and found a pair which seemed to be displaying to each other.
The tit flock in the wetwood held Blue, Great,Coal, Long Tailed and best of all 2 Marsh Tits as well as Treecreeper and Goldcrest.
By the end of my walk I had seen 46 species which I was very pleased with.