After feeling a little bit dodge yesterday and giving the birding a miss, I was understandably keen to get out early today, failed miserably😢 but was out of the house by 8!! Only to find I had forgotten me glasses and had to go through the whole rigmarole of taking my boots off to go back and get em!😲 (the boots was very muddy still and didn't want to face the wrath of Margie on my return had I left mud all over the carpet!!) Margie unfortunately seemed to have caught my malaise and had opted for the stay in bed option, though later it did cross my mind (rather uncharitably) that she had faked it to be alone with the remains of yesterday's awesome Cheesecake (see previous post) also apologises to anyone still trying to get the image of me naked eating cheesecake out of their head!! (what's that you say? "it's back in now"😀😀)
So I'm on me way, spur of the moment I decide to cross the fields to Langton Lane, first encounter was with a pair of Blackbirds very much proving that spring is defo on the way😛💓It was all very brief but the old boy seemed to have a glint in his eye as he strutted around afterwards!!
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| Wham! bam! thank you Ma'am |
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| Whose the daddy!!😀😉 |
Was pretty chilly out and the fields were covered in frost, a melanistic Pheasant was in the first field trying to prove the theory that camouflage is completely unnecessary, there was also a very posy Song Thrush here but wouldn't sing and a Green Woodpecker which flew about manically laughing from tree to tree but was nearly impossible to get a good pic of!!
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| Melanistic Pheasant trying to hide!! |
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| Green Woodpecker |
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| Stubbornly silent Song Thrush |
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| Still silent |
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| Rabbit! |
Out on to Langton Lane, pretty quiet along here with just the usual Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Robins and Thrushes flitting about in the hedges, all hope now rests with the Dungheap to save the day!😨 Needless to say the big steaming pile of Dung did the business👏it was caked in birds, good numbers of Redwings and Starlings on the downhill side with Fieldfares more in the field below, the place is Dunnock central with at least 10 birds present, a Grey Wagtail, at least 3 Meadow Pipits, a Wren,several posy Blackbirds and the best at least 4 Chiffchaffs working the heap!! Plenty of Skylarks in the filed below with the occasional song flight noted and a distant Yellowhammer could be heard.
Patience is the key when working the heap, hugging the hedge with the Sun behind me, I edge along until the required position is attained and then wait, the Redwing are very flighty and several flushed as I appeared but after a few minutes the birds settled down, it's then just a matter of waiting until the birds which are all wandering over the heap, disappearing and reappearing out of the peaks and valleys of the various piles, put themselves in an opportune position for pictures, the Redwings particularly frustrating as they wander in and out of the tractor tracks and grass tussocks never quite in the right place but eventually I managed some reasonable shots of most of the main species present.
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| Starling |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Redwing |
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| Blackbird |
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| Dunnock |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing finally posing ok |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
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| Grey Wagtail stayed on the far side of the heap unfortunately |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Flyover Mistle Thrush |
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| Steaming pile of Dung, fully hoping as migration kicks in that I will get at least a Wheatear on here!! |
After a happy and sometimes frustrating 3/4 of an hour and with Jack Frost beginning to bite I decided to investigate the Yellowhammer that had been singing constantly for the duration of my stay, didn't take long to find him in the trees along the track opposite, he thought he was hidden in the branches but managed to winkle a few shots through the twigs!
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| Yellowhammer singing |
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| Yellowhammer not singing |
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| Singing again!! |
As Margie not present though I'd better do a couple of scenery shots,one of the Church as per usual!
I continued down the lane, no sign of the usual Greenfinch or the Kestrels although I did have another couple of Yellowhammers and a few Great and Blue Tits followed me for a bit! A few Stock Doves about, a very noisy flock of about 20 Herring Gulls went over and a Dunnock appeared in the hedge about 3 feet away and tried to deafen me with a burst of song!😲
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| Lark Ascending! |
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| Lark Descending! |
Back at the heap, the Redwings and Fieldfares had relocated further down the field, but the Chiffchaffs came a bit closer which was nice! Incidentally there was no sign of the 2 Pied Wagtails that have been ever present at this site all through the Winter hopefully headed off to breed. The blackbirds were very posy here with one digging worms out of the muck about 10 feet in front of me!
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| Blackbird |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Fieldfare bit distant |
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| Chiffchaff showing well |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Dunnock |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Wren |
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| Gotta love a poser |
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| He's fabulous and knows it!! |
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| Chiffchaff |
So headed back down the lane was knackered now, not much about again although one field (randomly?) was full of Starlings and Fieldfare they were to distant for pics but was treated to a mini murmuration which was cool!!
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| Mini Murmuration! |
Got home the Cheesecake had survived hurrah!! (as if I ever doubted her💓!)
Very nice morning walk though only managed the 2.6 miles spent way to much time on the Dung!!!😃
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