December 8th - a short visit

An even shorter visit this morning, 7.55am-8.20am. It felt a little like the quiet before the storm, there were several CHAFFINCHES calling around the car park, with the odd ROBIN and a SONG THRUSH in full flow. Walking out to look across the valley one FIELDFARE went over and a flock of 120 or so WOODPIGEONS made their way south. It was still too dark for photos, so I decided to just take in the view. The second scan picked up a LITTLE EGRET sitting in an Oak by the stream, which stayed there for about 5 minutes. A few REDPOLLS were calling and eventually a flock of 12 birds was noted in the Silver Birches by the barn, a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was also calling from the Silver Birch. I could hear the ever present BULLFINCHES but failed to see any, a YELLOWHAMMER called from out in the fields and 2 MEADOW PIPITS flew directly overhead. I managed to record over 20 species in my short visit, sometimes I wonder whether to go to the patch if time is against me but after this mornings walk, maybe it's worth doing more often :-)