So yesterday with the weather clearing up in the afternoon I decided to go for a wander up Bullfinch Lane with a view to adding Yellowhammer to my year list. Margie already under a blanky with her head in a book decided not to come, on the grounds there might be a lot of standing around, which to be fair there was!!!😁 I arrived on site at about 2 o'clock, Margie already had a go about me driving to the lane when it's only about 3/4 of a mile from home, but I've only got so many miles in my legs and I'd rather not spend em walking through a housing estate seeing no birds!!! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!😀Not much to see at the top of the lane, but at the first diversion off near the horse paddocks (one day they'll be a Hoopoe in them paddocks) I found a pair of Stonechats, good bird for HPP, a Song Thrush and a flock of about 20 Meadow Pipits on the wires! Stonechats were a bit flighty but I got a couple of pics!
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| Male Stonechat |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Female Stonechat eyeing up lunch |
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| The pair together |
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| Wolstonbury Hill |
I headed down the lane, pretty quiet, occasional Dunnock, Robin and Blackbird as I hit the fields at the bottom, I could hear Skylarks singing and soon had good views on em, chasing each other around, as they do!
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| A particularly showy Blue Tit along Yellowhammer Alley, where sadly there appeared to be no Yellowhammers 😢 |
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| Skylark, couldn't get close to them and my flight shots are pants |
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| HPP Church |
At this point a couple of Kites appeared from Wolstonbury Hill and circled before heading off, didn't think much about it until I saw the photos later, when I tried to convince myself one was a Black Kite!!
This is mainly out of desperation as I've never seen one, sadly I forgot they have six "fingers" and I ignored the fairly strong fork in the tail!! In my defence it was Smaller and Darker than the Red Kite it was with, but the experts on Facebook and Birdforum soon confirmed my fears!! A second calendar year bird which along with the light explains the dull, less Red colouring and possibly the smaller size when compared to the other bird! A failed attempt at stringing!!!
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| Kites, sadly both Red!!! Still good to see mind, can't win em all! |
I wandered around the area, out to the Brighton Road and back, a Roebuck and his missus were in a field, some Gulls flew over, skylarks kept singing, distinct lack of Yellowhammers😢. It has to be said this was depressing, even if they aren't singing yet would have expected to pick up some flying about the area.
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| Roebuck |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Meadow Pipit |
By now time was marching on, nearly 4 o'clock, I wanted to get back for the footy scores. I decided to call it a day, I headed back up Bullfinch Lane, as I meandered on, I noticed a bloke out walking his Grizzly Bear😲Although as I get closer it turned out to be one of the biggest dogs I've ever seen, so big in fact the guy was carrying an actual shovel, I kid you not😮😯😮. I made an hilarious quip about, the amount of poop he was expecting it to do, which he treated with the disdain it deserved, but spying my camera, it's hard to miss strapped to my chest, he casually remarked "are you here for the Barn Owl?" "I am now!" was my reply before turning on my heels and heading back up the lane. The guy said he'd seen it flying down the path and heading towards the field. Five minute later with burning lungs I was watching a stunning Barn Owl! I turned to thank the man and his dog, but they had disappeared! was it the ghost of a birder sent by the Birding Gods to turn me around, in stylee of the song "camouflage"😲😲😱😱👻👻👻!!! Obviously not they'd gone behind the hedge😁😁!!!!
Some pics of the bird below! From the spots on it's breast and sides I'm pretty sure it's a female!
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| The light was quite nice! |
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| It got some slight hassle from a crow, but it hid in a tree for a couple of mins before resuming the hunt! |
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| This pic shows the spots |
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| Saw the bird make several dive into the long grass but never saw it catch anything, though it flushed Pipits and Skylarks on several occasions! |
I know rather a lot of pics, but a Barn Owl in gorgeous light, I was always gonna fill me boots! The bird disappeared down the slope and with the light fading I decided to head home, as I walked down the lane a couple of birds flew into the hedge next to me, one popped out on top of the hedge!! Yellowhammer!!! Hurrah!!!!!
So at least two Yellowhammer in the area, hopefully more, will visit again in a couple of weeks when hopefully the males will be on territory!! In the end a very productive walk, the Barney will live long in the memory.!!
Was such a nice day I celebrated with a large slice of the Cheesecake I made on Friday!
Yum!!!
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