Tuesday 6 March 2012

March 6th

I met Dad at around 9.25am in the car park and we headed off up towards the new orchard. A couple of GREENFINCHES were singing in the car park and the usual BULLFINCH was heard. Looking south towards Hempsted Forest, a SPARROWHAWK glided across the treetops and good numbers of FIELDFARE and REDWING fed in one of the meadows. Raucous JAYS called as we walked the tree lined bridleway and SKYLARKS sung for the entire visit. We added KESTREL and MEADOW PIPIT (20 no.) before coming across a flock of YELLOWHAMMERS, at first I counted about 15 birds then a swirl of wings from the stubble and probably another 40 or more went to join the birds I had counted!! Among them were maybe 10 REED BUNTINGS and 5 or 6 LINNETS, also here the only SISKIN of the day called from the Alders. As we entered the wood a COMMON BUZZARD was being seen off by a crow and the LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER called three times.
Reed Bunting (female)

Common Buzzard

 GREY HERON was added then a small feeding flock in the wood included MARSH TIT, COAL TIT, LONG TAILED TIT, TREECREEPER and 6 REDPOLLS. The lake was quiet, the Coot had gone for now and just a MOORHEN preened at the lakes edge.
Long Tailed Tit

Blue Tit

Moorhen

Frog Spawn

 Finally at the bottom of Park Field we heard LITTLE OWL and saw a LITTLE EGRET, in all 47 species for the morning was good, we had no fly over gulls today which is unusual and no Goldfinches. As I said goodbye to Dad, 2 Buzzards circled the car park.
Treecreeper


Little Egret

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can only say what i always say, Alan. And that is, another set of cracking shots.

Martyn Wilson said...

Great set of photos Alan

Martyn Wilson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Warren Baker said...

Great to here about those Yellowhammers Alan, and of course, well done on the photo's today, the Treecreeper is top drawer. Shame that Egret didn't pass with the sun behind you,still a sharp photo though :-)

Steve Tomlinson said...

Great Pictures Alan, the Treecreeper can certainly at times be a tricky one. Nice to get Lesser Spot haven't had one on me patch for years.

Mike Attwood said...

You look as though you had more light than I did Alan. Nice shots.

Unknown said...

Buenas fotos y buenas observaciones.
Saludos!!

Mike H said...

47 species is a great tally for a morning Alan,that treecreeper shot is great too.

Giga said...

Miło patrzeć na efekty wyprawy. Tyle ślicznych ptaków udało się Ci się "złapać" aparatem. Pozdrawiam. *** Nice to look at the results of the expedition. So many lovely birds, you managed to "catch" the camera. Yours.

Tammy said...

Great series of photos! 47 species is a fabulous morning:)

Friend of HK said...

47 species! What a day! Great shots too.

strandskatan said...

Great pictures!
//Halina

Brian King said...

Love that Blue Tit and the Moorhen! Fantastic photos, Alan!

alp said...

Una maravilla de fotos. muy buenas. Un saludo desde murcia..seguimos..

Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Hi Alan!!!...
Pleased to meet you and yor Blog... Beautiful photos!!!..
Un saludo...

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Dean, thanks, I took hundreds so luck was on my side :-)

Hi Martin, thanks.

Hi Warren, thanks, I was pleased top find the Yellowhammers had come back.

Hi Steve, the Lesser Spot has been more active this year than previous years.

Hi Mike, the light was not too bad at times today.

Hi Ramon, thank you, Saludos!!

Hi Mike, thanks, a few birds appeared that I don't always see which helped the total today.

Hi Giga, thank you for your kind comments.

Hi Tammy, thanks, it was a good morning out.

Hi Friend of HK, thank you for your comment.

Hi Strandskatan, thank you for your comment.

Hi Brian, thank you, it was a nice morning.

Hi Alp, thank you for visiting my blog.

Hi Ana, thank you for visiting my blog :-) Saludos!

Anonymous said...

WOW..47 species in one day is very impressive, I am lucky to see a dozen in one day. Your 2012 species list is growing quite well. Love the long-tailed Tit, they are such sweet little birds.

ShySongbird said...

Excellent Treecreeper photo Alan! Good to see the frogspawn too, I haven't found any so far this year.

Well done on the Hooded Merganser and the Smew also!

Rohrerbot said...

Excellent shots! That Frog Spawn pic is really interesting. Lots of wonderful spots. Somedays are excellent for spotting wildlife. Other times not so much. Looks like you had a good day:)

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Wanda, thank you for visiting my blog, it was a nice total for the morning and the year list is ticking along nicely :-)

Hi ShySongbird, thank you, I was pleased to find the frog spawn I found some more in another pond at the other end of the wood!

Hi Chris, thank you, it was one of those days luckily :-)

Phil said...

I echo everything that's already been said Alan.
Really like the Treecreeper and Egret shots!

de schoonheid van de natuur said...

wat een geweldige foto's erg mooi.
groetjes Herman.

Ingemar Pettersson said...

Hi!
Lovely bird serie for a birdlover like me. My favorit is the little egret.
Greetings from Sweden
/Ingemar

Tim Gutsell said...

Good account Alan.

Joop Zand said...

Goodmorning Alan

Thanks for following my blog.

These pictures on your blog looks very very nice..... i like the light, colors and compostions !

Greetings from Holland, Joop

Helma said...

Hi Alan,

which is a nice series of these birds. Especially the tree creeper, you look beautiful scherpop stand. The little egret flying, you staartmeesje, reed bunting and koolmeesje you are great at. And I actually saw quite a puddle frog! Great pictures.

Greetings, Helma

Javier G. Pérez said...

Sorprendentes imágenes del día a día de la fauna activa.
Son unas fotos de excelente calidad.

Saludos.

J said...

Nice shots, especially the Treecreeper, which I was chasing today, but without any photo success.

Noushka said...

Not an easy catch this Tree creeper!
A great blog and a wonderful variety of pictures!