Wolstonbury Walk

 Was going to get up for first light this morning but Margie had to go to work   she said she'd walk, but gave it full puppy eyes so I caved in and agreed to drop her off. I'm such a nice guy😀 (nothing to do with an extra hour in bed😀). So having dropped her off, I headed a short distance down to the bottom of New way Lane for a walk up Wolstonbury Hill.

I decided to climb the dreaded East face!!

The dreaded East Face of Wolstonbury Hill!!

I laboured up, once again, as it has everyday this week the weather forecast has suggested blue skies and sunshine, the reality once again was grey skies and a chill north wind, was glad I'd made the last minute decision to wear me Gillette!! I pushed on up, stopping only to take in the view!! 

Bird wise, the approaches had a lot of Wrens, Blackbirds and a Song Thrush but not much else, On the grassland there were plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks, but not very approachable flushing up next to the path or singing high in the sky!

Pretty good looking habitat, but apart from a few Goldfinch and a couple of Blackbirds largely birdless😢

Goldfinch

Skylark

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit descending

Jack & Jill

The top of the hill!!

Skylark

Meadow Pipit

Hurstpierpoint Church from the top!!

I wandered around the top, was mostly Skylarks and Pipits with the odd flyover  Linnet. There were also several large Bovines stalking the area!

Beasts stalking the summit and where there's one 

There is always more

This one attempted to ambush me!

Skylark

Brighton from the top

Meadow Pipit hiding up!!

Up until now the Skylarks were being elusive, however I found an area with some small bushes and a couple, although a bit distant, were sitting up singing from them!

Skylark

I wandered the path to the east looping back to the start, a few Linnets supplemented the Larks and Pipits.

Linnet

Male and Female Linnet

Blackbird in Blossom

I arrived back at the car, somewhat disappointed with proceedings, very quiet birdwise with only the Larks and Pipits in any number, I had heard a distant Yellowhammer but couldn't find it, no Stonechats and no Raptors at all, though that was probably down to the chill wind. I decided to have a look over the Danny fields, plenty of Buttercups and a few Alpacas, but not a lot on the bird front, although a couple of flyover Mistle Thrush avoided the camera!! 

So many Buttercups this year

Alpacas in the Buttercups!

Not sure what he does the rest of the week

I headed back again as I approached the car I noticed a couple of Green Woodpeckers on some fence posts, now usually Green Woodies tend to be very flighty, off at the drop of a hat even with my ninja like stalking abilities. However the advantage with me as there was a large hedge between me and the birds and fortunately at the closest point there was a nice little window for me to shoot through! 

First distant view

Once I got close, at first he played it hard to get!

But a bit of patience was rewarded

Male Green Woodpecker note the red in the moustache Female would be all black!

Female Green Woodpecker

Think I got every angle covered!! The pair looked a bit worse for wear, no sign of any youngsters, so maybe having a well earned rest, not sure what was so interesting about these posts, they were on them for ages, but never saw them eat anything of em!!!

That was about that, the last birds the only real moment of the quality! Margie was still at work when I got home so I hung the washing out and emptied the dishwasher😇😇!! Obviously when Margie got home she had to rehang the washing😏😏