Friday 4 November 2011

November 4th, another little bonus!

I decided on self preservation this morning and wimped out, by standing in the shelter of the Granary!! Even when the rain left off I took no chances and stayed put. There were a few GOLDFINCH heading south and east, only in flocks of 4 or 5, I could hear LONG TAILED TITS in the nearby hedge with at least 1 GOLDCREST for company.

View from the Granary

Looking the other way!! still raining!
Further across the fields were loads of corvids and Pheasants, just 3 REDWINGS flew south and one FIELDFARE in the 50 minutes I was there. I could see the LINNET flock was around 30 birds and at least 15 SKYLARKS came up from the same field. A JAY was being noisy on the far side of the veg garden and 22 REDPOLLS flew out from a birch, they circled round and dropped back in. The highlight, however, came when I followed a flock of Goldfinch, whilst trying to find a SISKIN that I could hear, in the flock was an unmistakeable large finch, HAWFINCH (113), it headed off south east with the 4 Goldfinches, brilliant! I used to record these annually probably 3 or 4 times a year, sometimes in twos and threes. Last year we did get a couple of sightings of single birds, the first for a few years. I was again pleased with the mornings efforts and glad I decided to wimp out of the rain!!
Veg Garden

Story of the morning :-)

8 comments:

Paul said...

The Hawfinch sounds like a big bonus to me, and i like the rain running off the roof tiles photo, bit arty ;-)

Greenie said...

Alan ,
There's no stopping you this year .
Well done with the Hawfinch .
120 would be a nice round figure to finish on .

Warren Baker said...

Great record Alan, never had a Hawfinch here, I'll keep checking those finch flocks though :-)

Phil said...

I agree with Greenie Alan,at this rate 120 is on the cards!

Ornitocampero.blogspot.com.es said...

Interesting records and nice lanscapes....
Saludos!

Unknown said...

Hawfinch! Well done.

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Paul, Thanks, you are right, big bonus is nearer the mark really, I never expect to come across them these days.

Hi Greenie, it is going pretty well this year but apart from maybe Merlin, I can't think of many more I can get.

Hi Warren, I'm sure they used to nest in a group of mature trees in the vicarage many years ago, I think the trees are gone as well now. Certainly worth keepimg an eye those flocks :-)

Hi Phil, collectively we are on 117 for the year, it would be nice to reach 120 one way or another :-)

Hi El Campero Inquieto, Thank you, I am lucky to live in some nice countryside.

Hi Kieron, Thanks, it was a nice surprise.

Rachel J said...

Must have missed this post somehow; well done on the Hawfinch!