Got up a bit late today, so it wasn't until 10 o'clock that Margie and I found ourselves at the small car park at the southern end of the Bostal Road, kitting up for a walk east over the Downs. Weather was nice, sunny with a bit of breeze but I risked leaving the sweatshirt off!!
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| Hunk Alert 😁Yes I know I should have put a warning on before posting this pic sorry to any ladies who banged their head with all the swooning!! Also for anyone who saw me yesterday I have 2 of these t-shirts exactly the same, note the perfect camouflage against the blue sky!! |
First bird, from the car was a Raptor, the first of 2 that would try to trick me, I had all but convinced myself it was a Honey Buzzard when I realised it was just a Common striking plumage though for sure!!
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| Common Buzzard |
After a bit of head scratching we crossed the road headed down the path, it was very quiet, in the distance I picked out a small bird on a bush, which I felt was a Whinchat, but by the time we got there it had been flushed by mountain bikers, though pics proved me right, another fairly impressive long distance ID shout if I say so myself! Which I do!!😁
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| Whinchat, couple of whitethroats and a Willow Warbler were also in the bush but couldn't get any pics! |
We turned right at the 1st junction, were some cows in the field, but no Yellow wags with em, however all was not lost as along the fence line were a couple of Stonechats and at least 3 Whinchats, this fence line is a bit overgrown and the Whinchats managed to hide behind any bit of grass or random bit of bramble until one took pity on me, possibly embarrassed by all the swearing, flying a short distance into the field and posing on an isolated seed head, long enough that even I could get a couple of decent pics!
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| Margie felt this one was the cutest! |
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| I took about 100 pics of this bird on the fence, this was the only one where the bird was in focus and not the blade of grass!! |
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| "This alright for you", seems slightly angry!! |
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| There was a bit of a breeze, so to maintain balance the bird had to throw some moves! |
Before you start there is no such thing as too many pics of a Whinchat, you're lucky I was so restrained!😲
Meanwhile Margie was busy taking pictures of flowers, where Bees had been moments before😂
Some nice pics from her there, she also spent rather to much time lining this shot up!!
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| Yes it looks like a circle, whoop😏! |
And this one!!
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| Yes it looks like the pylons are marching out to sea to the windfarm!! |
Blooming artistic types, what's wrong wih pictures of birds 😁She also managed some nice shots of the view!
Thankfully I found 4 Wheatears at this point, although a bit distant and intent on hiding in the grass I managed a couple of pics!
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Another distant Whinchat |
The path we were on, ran around, halfway up a hill, the fields below us held the Wheatear, the fields above was a pasture of short grass with not much occurring, glancing up I saw a small Raptor "harrying" across the field, the light was terrible but I had just about convinced myself it was a Monty's with a few doubts, IE couldn't see a white rump, though not that surprising considering the angle we was at, when it went full power mode and turned into an obvious though large Sparrowhawk!! Bloody birds, don't think in all my years birding I have ever seen a Sprawk flying like this one was to start with!!
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| Sparrowhawk, "harrying" ! |
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| Then full power mode |
Just shows it is easy to get confused with bird ID especially in dodgy light, birds in unfamiliar habitat, looking through a view finder instead of Bins, although I wasn't the one who turned a cyclist into a stork!!!!😂
We turned left and headed up the hill Margie found some interesting stuff, but birdwise was quiet, couple of Willow Warblers, a Whitethroat and a Wheatear, none of which posed for pics, although a Kestrel showed reasonable at the top, the path loops around and we headed back along the escarpment.
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| For once the autofocus chose the bird and not the blade of grass, Hurrah!! |
Completing the loop back to the car was uneventful apart from a Bi-plane flying over and an old guy shouting at a mountain biker!! Which is always fun and fully justified as he nearly ran him over!! Some of them are mental and others very considerate and nice, takes all-sorts!
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| Bi-plane |
All around a very nice walk, not many local birds about, a few Goldfinch and a small flock of Linnets but no Skylarks or Corn Buntings which we usually see here, possibly the time of day didn't help and it's a big area with quite a bit of set aside, distant from the paths so hopefully they were all in there! Like yesterday there were loads of Swallows about over the fields, a sure sign of Autumn on the way!
On the way home we stopped at the Small Dole Fox, for lunch, luckily they had a table and a very tasty Ham, Eggs and Chips was enjoyed and I highly recommend the delicious homemade Tropical Fruit Trifle made with Peach Snaps it was very tasty and very large!!!!
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