Well after a week in Wales, back on the Patch today, though mainly due to over sleeping and very little of interest elsewhere, quite a pleasing walk, lots of birds about. Started well with a Yellowhammer, a very showy Common Whitethroat and an equally forward Linnet on the walk down to the Vineyard.
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| Blue Tits, several of these seen today! |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Common Whitethroat |
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| Linnet |
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| Common Whitethroat |
Through the Vineyard and down to the Church, relieved to see the Swallows have returned! Wandered around to the patch proper, Kestrel showed well as did more Whitethroats, heard several Green Woodpeckers, saw several in flight but only one perched!
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| HPP Church |
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| Impressive Tree |
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| Hawthorn blossom seems to be prolific this year |
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| Terrible Swallow Pic! As per normal😂 |
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| Beautiful Demoiselle, lot's about today |
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| Kestrel |
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| Another showy Whitethroat |
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| Not sure what's going on here! |
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| Green Woodpecker |
I have recently acquired a new phone, so thought I would download the Merlin App. The one everyone is talking about, finally admitting that even after 20 years plus of Birding, my IDing of birds from song is woefully bad!!! I have very bad ear to brain coordination!!! I blame a youth listening to Punk Rock and Thrash Metal! I was quite impressed with my first go of the app, everything I could see singing, it ID'd correctly and of those I couldn't see, it got all the ones I knew correct! Though the Nightingale belting out it's song from deep in a thicket, was easy even for me!! Nice to hear, there was one near this locale the year before last, so glad another has appeared. There may even have been 2 as I'm sure heard another 30yards away but they are sneaky moving through the undergrowth!
Interestingly I heard loads of Wrens, confirmed by the App, but didn't see a single one of em!!
I retraced my steps, going down Church Lane. In a willow, near the Stream, there were loads of Demoiselles, fairly sure one of them was a Banded Demoiselle among the multitude of Beautiful Demoiselle.
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| Beautiful Demoiselle |
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| Possible Banded Demoiselle, seemed slightly bigger and had the dark bits in the wings! |
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| Roe Deer in dappled light |
The Whitethroat was still singing at the bottom of the of the Vineyard and the Yellowhammer was still knocking about!
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| Common Whitethroat |
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| Yellowhammer |
I had a wander up the glades, lovely flowers everywhere, more Demoiselles, plenty of Hoverflies and some nice beetles but generally quiet!
I walked back along Cutlers Brook, as I got near the road, the vegetation opened up and I was amazed to see a Kingfisher perched on an overhanging dead branch!!! Unfortunately it saw me at the same time, and despite my legendary reflexes, it turns out that a Kingfisher has quicker and it flew off before I got the camera up!! I have seen Kingfisher in the area before, but it is a very small stream, can't believe it could support a breeding pair!! That was about it not a bad day all in all!!
That App sounds good, l might have to download it too!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been hearing about it for a while and I do struggle on things like Blackcap/Garden Warbler and others that I'm less familiar with so hopefully this will help out, have heard different opinions on it's accuracy but seemed good today!
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