Patch Wander

 Having taken Margie to work, I was wondering what to do, the weather was looking a bit dodge and I was being tempted by the Woman's World Cup footy on the box.⚽ However the appearance of the Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, that has recently taken to visiting the garden and a slight improvement in the weather inspired me to hit the Patch!!! Other exciting news from the Garden, finally after, 3 years one of our good for nothing, freeloading Tadpoles has decided to grow a pair of legs!!! Whoop, could there be Froglets soon😀!! Haven't seen Frogo for a couple of weeks so he may have departed the area, on the plus side haven't found him dead yet!!!! Hurrah!! There was also quite a chunky Dragonfly in the garden, so hopefully it will spot the pond and lay some eggs, we are sadly lacking in emerging Odonata !!! 

Terrible picture of our GSW, I have a bit of a moral dilemma. As you can see the feeder is buried in the undergrowth, this is to make it more difficult for the local Sparrowhawks, don't get me wrong I love to see our Sprawks but we feed the birds to help them not to make them sitting targets. However in order to get a decent pic of the GSW I'm either gonna have to move the feeder or clear some of the undergrowth which could put it at risk!! To be honest it's not a dilemma, I'm gonna leave well alone couldn't live with the guilt if the Sprawk got it!!!!😢😀

So arrived on the Patch at about 7.45am, sky looked a bit threatening on the plus side there was a Yellowhammer singing and several Swifts zooming over the first field. I decided to concentrate on the Swifts as they will be gone soon!! With the usual underwhelming results!!😢

Swift, yes I know, you're right why do I bother!!

Fantastic to see though swooping about!

Some nice Poppies in the crop along the edge of the field!

Poppies

I headed along Cutler's Brook, the Glades looked very overgrown and wet, so turned left up the hill, the first Yellowhammer of the day appeared, but the pics are not very picturesque!

Yellowhammer 

Distant Kestrel, weighing up the risk and reward of having a crack at a nice plump Pigeon!! Think it decided against it!!😂

The dilapidated barn at the top of the hill, once again failed to have any Owls in it and the large manure heap next to it failed to produce anything!😢 Things improved as I walked down the hill towards the Vineyard. To start with, another singing Yellowhammer and this one had the decency to avoid the industrial scenery!

Obligatory Church pic with bonus Swift!!

Yellowhammer

Unfortunately this Yellowhammer flew off before I could get reasonably close, spooked by a rival flying over it's head!! I reached the bottom of the hill, a thick hedge runs across the path here and it is quite often the most productive part of the walk, I waited a  while and my patience paid off with more Yellowhammers and a couple of Whitethroats present. There were also a couple of parties of Tits through, but too quick for me. 

Yellowhammer

Not sure if this is a juvenile or a female? 

Common Whitethroat 

Were several Yellowhammers in the area and a flock of Goldfinch, as I walked up through the Vineyard I saw more Goldfinch and heard at least two Green Woodpeckers, but couldn't get a view through the vines! At the top I turned right and headed down towards Church Lane. At the bottom of the hill a Kestrel was showing well on a wire!!

I like this tree very symmetrical nasty shower beyond it, but fortunately going the other way, I was very lucky with the weather, which improved slowly throughout the morning 

Wolstonbury Hill

Flyover Feral Greylag Geese

Kestrel showed alright!

Headed up Church Lane fairly quiet, headed into the Patch proper, been a bit of a growth spurt here possibly due to the rain of the  last few weeks, so many of the paths quite overgrown, fair to say I got my fair share of stings as I wandered about, blooming nettles😢😂!! With the Sun out, insects livened up a with some Beautiful Demoiselles showing well!!

Male Beautiful Demoiselle 

Female Beautiful Demoiselle

Gatekeeper

Peacock

Meadow Brown

I ran into a flock of small birds mainly Blue and Great Tits with a few Long-tailed Tits in with em I heard and then saw Bullfinch, a Female and at least one Juvenile but pics were pretty much impossible in the thick foliage, that's my excuse anyway😀 Surprisingly I had more luck with Warblers, with both Blackcap and Chiffchaff posing ok and surprise of the day a Sedge Warbler, pretty sure it's the first one I've seen here!! Though my memory is fairly poor as we know!!

Sedge Warbler, pretty sure they don't breed in the immediate area so maybe an early migrant

Blackcap, pretty sure this is a young un!!

Chiffchaff

Different Chiffchaff

I reached the dead tree, this is a pretty good spot for Woodpeckers and sure enough a Great Spotted Woodpecker, flew in on cue and posed a lot better than our garden visitor!😏😏

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

I had a little wander, flyover Heron and a friendly Robin, quite a bit of movement in the bushes with Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff along with the commoner stuff! But difficult to get decent pics.

Grey Heron

Robin

Pretty sure this is a Chiffchaff as opposed to a Willow Warbler as legs look darkish and wings seem shortish!

I returned to the dead tree some Goldfinch showed well, including some youngsters, but only got pics of the adults😏 

Do like a Goldfinch

Finally managed a pic of a Blue Tit when one dropped into the dead tree briefly!

Was hearing several Green Woodpeckers about the place, was just thinking it would be nice if one would land on the tree, when boom!! One did!! Result!!

Green Woodpecker, a Male usually very flighty but this one sat awhile!

Possibly one or two more pics of a Green Woodpecker than needed but, don't often get one as posy as that so filled me boots!!😂 Sorry not sorry!!!😂

Had a Buzzard fly just over my head, but only got one pic as disappeared over some trees and a flock of Canada Geese did a flyover!

Common Buzzard

Feral Canada Geese

I decided to retrace my steps, Kestrel was still on the wire, the Swallows seem to have left the church area, which I think is a bit early, they are usually here into August, there was a single bird so maybe they are just feeding elsewhere, I climbed the hill towards the Vineyard. As the weather was improving and the wind increasing I hoped for a Raptorfest, didn't materialise, but had a couple of Buzzards including a very pale one, by the row it was making I think a Juvenile!

Kestrel on the wire

Swallow

Buzzard

Distinctive pale Buzzard

Jack and Jill

That was about it, several Yellowhammers seen on the walk back, but didn't really get any pics worth posting, did finally get a pic of a young Goldfinch which is always good!!

Juvenile Goldfinch

Won't be long until birds start coming through on Autumn migration so another visit in a few weeks will be on the cards!!!