The title of this was supposed to be Sunrise at the Dung Heap!! Failed to get out of bed!!😀 Anyway better late than never😏 With very little being reported anywhere else I decided to stay local and see if I could find anything awesome near home, spoiler alert I couldn't!! In fact apart from a few Chiffchaffs calling didn't see anything migratory at all, however did have a few nice encounters with the local residents so, every cloud n all that!!
Wasn't much about as I crossed the fields from our road to Langton Lane, on the lane nice to glimpse a couple of Bullfinch, but they weren't interested in posing for pics😢 Couple of Robins and a small party of Great Tits seen as well
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| Robin |
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| Robin |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Great Tit |
Arrival at the Dung Heap was slightly underwhelming a couple of Blackbirds and Song Thrush rooting about, the usual Dunnocks but not the Wheatear/Ouzelfest I'd been hoping for, eventually I found a pair of Yellowhammer but they stayed distant, not even any Wagtails which was a surprise!
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| Blackbird |
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| Herring Gull always look nice against a blue sky |
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| Song Thrush plenty of these seen today, all the big hedges seemed to have a couple of these and a couple of Blackbirds patrolling the edge |
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| Record shot of Yellowhammer on Dung Heap (read on better pics of Yellowhammer Imminent) |
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| Dunnock showing what it thought of proceedings so far!! |
So I needed a sign
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| Blackbird giving me a sign!! |
Seemed to convenient so I went the other way!!😲 Largely because I'd seen a Jay fly along the hedge, it did what Jays do IE skulk but eventually I got a couple of shots!
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| Jay |
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| Jay |
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| Red-legged Partridge |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Blue Tit |
I decided that wide open spaces of the Turkey/Pheasant farm would be awash with Wheatear/Ouzel action, they weren't!! Couple of Pied Wags the only evidence of life, I went through the farm ,hit the stream and looped back to Langton Lane, as I was walking back down the lane, a bird flew over my shoulder and landed in the hedge about 5 yards in front of me! cracking male Yellowhammer, which posed well for a couple of minutes before relocating to a wire where it posed even better!! Bird of day!!
Cue too many pics of a Yellowhammer😂
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Yellowhammer shame it sat on the massive cable but them's the breaks!! |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Yellowhammer |
Fabulous encounter!! A little further on I watched a couple of Male House Sparrows cavorting around a small tree in an effort to impress a female, she didn't seem that impressed to be honest!!💔
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| Male House Sparrow |
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| Female House Sparrow |
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| Showing a bit of interest |
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| Male House Sparrow |
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| Nah, not interested! |
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| Goldfinch |
I continued my wanderings, a footpath off the road sparked my interest,when the movement that caught my eye turned out to be a Green Woodpecker, it's rare to spot them before they spot ya, so I went full stealth mode, however terrain was difficult, another bird flew in from stage right and landed on a signpost, theme developing here!! The birds feeding on the ground disappeared around the corner of a conifer hedge, I crept along the edge reached the corner poked me head round,nada they'd buggered off ,meaning I'd spent 5 mins of my life in full stealth mode for nothing!! luckily at this point a couple of Greenfinch appeared and posed very nicely which cheered me up no end!!😀
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| Green Woodpecker on post |
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| Green Woodpecker |
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| The usual view!! |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
Saw quite a few Finches on my walk today, mostly Goldfinch, a few Greenfinch, a couple of Bullfinch and pleased to see a couple of Chaffinch as well though they were the least posy!
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| Chaffinch |
Got back to the Dung Heap, much the same as before this time it was a Robin on the signpost!!
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| Robin, bad hair day! |
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| Church, be honest you'd thought I'd forgotten didn't ya!!😀 |
I headed back down the lane, the thick hedges in the fields had plenty of the commoner birds in them, but getting pics was at a premium, another fairly frustrating encounter with some Bullfinch, although a couple of Goldies showed them how to pose. The Blackthorn bushes were full of blossom but could I get anything to pose in them? No obviously!!
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| Goldfinch in Lichen now if you could just move two bushes to the left and sit in the blossom? |
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| No? fair enough, quite like these pics though with the light like it is!! |
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| Bullfinch, will you please come a bit closer!! |
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| Ok I will but in a way that completely winds you up 😂 |
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| Blue Tit showing how it's done |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Bullfinch, now if you could just come forward into the blossom? |
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| No don't think so!! |
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| See Ya😂 |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Goldfinch |
Sorry about that went a bit Jonny Morris there😲 Your old if you know who that is😃 So a nice walk in glorious sunshine and blue skies where, due to the change in temperature from blooming nippy to sweat ya nuts off, I gave Gypsy Rose Lee a run for her money in the taking off clothes stakes, although you will be glad to know I didn't end up naked!!! Plenty of birds about today, Lot's of singing Skylarks in appropriate habitat and the hedges had plenty of the common stuff but couldn't find anything unusual, migration seems to have passed Hurstpierpoint by so far!! Still there is always next time!!!!
