With the weather forecast looking crap for the whole weekend, the only window of opportunity to get out for a walk seemed to be first thing Saturday morning, Margie decided not to come, heroically giving up the joy of more Dungheap visits to do washing and housework, so dedicated!, though I feel this may have been more an excuse to lay in bed a bit longer😂!! On exiting the house I discovered that the weather hadn't seen the weather app as instead of "Low Cloud and Light wind" there was fog, undaunted I decided to press on a mixture of optimism and a reluctance to spend 20 minutes taking off all the layers of clothes I'd just spent ages putting on😏!
Very subdued in our street with even the usual chirpy Sparrows and Starlings quiet ,on the cut through to Orchard Way was a Song Thrush singing well but to deep in the bushes to get a picture, everything was strangely muted although a couple of Jackdaws were squawking in the mist!
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| Jackdaws In the Mist |
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| Starlings and a Woody in the mist |
There were however a few signs of spring about as well as the singing Thrush there were some nice Daffodils also a Facebook group I'm in are doing a "water droplet" competition and I spent far too long trying to get a decent pic of them without much success😏!
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| Nice to see a Daffodil |
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| Water Droplet (I know not gonna win any prizes with this😃) |
I pushed on down Bullfinch Lane fairly quiet though could hear a drumming Woodpecker in the distance, with limited visibility a decent birder relies on their other senses particularly hearing, however having spent the best part of my youth listening to Punk and Thrash Metal at high volume and working in foundries with, initially at least, very little in the way of Health and Safety I am what is known as tone deaf and can only envy the birders that can pic a lone Redpoll out of a flock of a 100 Siskins from a single call!!😢Though I try my best!!
The Bullfinch Lane Dungheap is not as productive as it's Langton Lane counterpart and despite giving it a good grilling could only find 3 Pheasants that had survived the guns!
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| More misty Starlings |
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| Couple of Pheasants |
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| Pheasant on Dung |
There was more activity now and my ears were picking up singing Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks, a Wren gave a good burst of song as they do and then bird of the day piped up from right above my head another Song Thrush giving it large, saw and heard at least 8 singing Song Thrushes on my walk today!!
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| Not Brightening up much! |
I followed the path up to the top fields, this has been productive in the past for Skylarks and Yellowhammer and I could here the former calling and a few brief bursts of song with the odd bird whizzing past in the mist! I stood here for a while was nice to here the calling/squabbling birds ,with visibility improving a little I could begin to pick them out on the fields as well as a nice loose flock of about 30 Meadow Pipits zipping about, as you can imagine getting pictures was a bit of a nightmare😖but a single Pipit took pity on me and landed on a post!
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
I back-tracked a little and followed the path down towards the telephone mast, overgrown here and a bit of planting gone on looks a good area for the spring/summer can imagine will be a good area for warblers. Not much about today though a couple of Green Woodpeckers flew up out of the field into the trees laughing at my inability to get a picture😡Was a nice little Waterfall here and in Margie's absence tried a few shots of it was also another candidate for water droplet pic of the year in this area!!
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| More droplets. |
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| Water |
I headed back to the fields more Skylarks were zipping about lots of squabbling and a couple of brief song flights, should think in another couple of weeks ,with a sunny day will be well worth a trip up there to listen to them singing and fail to get some decent pics of em!!😁 I also managed a shot of a distant female Yellowhammer which is encouraging hopefully they will be returning to the area soon to set up territories.
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| Skylark |
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| Skylark |
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| Distant Yellowhammer (female) |
With the mist seemingly descending again I gave it up and headed back up the lane,trees looming out of mist, very atmospheric!
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| Atmospheric Tree |
The only notable action on the way back was a friendly singing Robin, a posy Collared Dove and a nice male House Sparrow!
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| Robin |
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| Collared Dove |
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| House Sparrow |
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| House Sparrow |
Got home and the mist finally lifted, typical!! The Blackcap appears to be fed up with the apple now and is gobbling up the little black berries on the bush we don't know the name of!!
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| Blackcap with Berries (Through Glass) |
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| Blackcap with Berries (Through Glass) |
I think today's walk, like most lately, sums up the nature of Lockdown birding, bloody hard work😲!! Be nice to get out to a more productive area when the rules are relaxed!!
Late breaking news, the local Male Sprawk landed in our Rowan Tree before diving into the Ivy in pursuit of a meal, didn't see him catching anything though and unfortunately was the wrong side of the Tree for autofocus and wasn't there long enough to change settings!!
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| Sparrowhawk through glass! |
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