Opening the car door I was greeted with the call of a CROSSBILL heading north west, certainly a good start. The car park held 3 SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS a couple of WILLOW WARBLERS and a few CHIFFCHAFFS also present here were NUTHATCH and BULLFINCH. West of the car park is the newly planted orchard with a good mature hedge along the southern side here a LESSER WHITETHROAT tacked' a few times before coming into view. A YELLOW WAGTAIL called twice before I picked it up flying south then just a minute or so later a TREE PIPIT buzzed it's call as it flew north, in 35 minutes I had notched up 32 species with a couple of unexpected birds already. As I reached the moat round the gardens a KINGFISHER called, this turned out to be 2 Kingfishers that did a couple of fly-pasts before disappearing towards the lake. Heading into the fields YELLOWHAMMERS were only knocked into second place in abundance by the 30+ HOUSE SPARROWS sharing the hedgerows, a scan of the fence posts picked up a 'chat' of some description in the distance, WHINCHAT was added and I thought maybe 60 species for the day was possible. By 10am I had 52 species, I headed home to find get some refreshment and then headed back out with Bec, GOLDCREST, COAL TIT and TREECREEPER took the total to 55 when lunch and a good deal of stretching was required before I ventured out again.
From 1.15 to 2.30pm I took a seat and set it so I could look across my favourite view, the farmer was combining the Barley and it was a very warm afternoon my return for this stint was 5 or more COMMON BUZZARDS, another SPARROWHAWK and a HOBBY number 56. I finally decided to carry on walking around some of the hedges I had missed in the morning, a LITTLE OWL perched on a fence post in the bright the sunlight in the field which holds the National Trust Saddlebacks fresh with new litter of piglets. I gave up about 4.30pm on 57 species, there was definitely more to see, I failed to find a Collared Dove, the Sedge and Garden Warblers of previous days had gone as had the Common Whitethroats, so 60 is certainly possible and maybe I'll have another go sometime, hopefully when I'm fully fit.
Only a couple of pics today, which were a struggle to get!
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| Distant Whinchat |
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| Small Tortoiseshell, I saw many as I grew up then they seemed to disappear, it's nice to see them back. |
9 comments:
I set aside at least 2 days of the year to try and get the ''60 species in a day'' Alan, not done it yet but last month i got 58, my best effort yet.
You got some good species today though, I'd love a Crossbill or tree Pipit here this year!
Hope that back gets better mate, nothing worse is there :-(
Geweldige foto's.
groetjes Herman,
A couple of goods birds seen there. I have seen a few Small Tortoiseshell in the past few weeks, perhaps they are on their way back.
Hi Alan, no chance of 60 species in a day on my patch but also no chance of not seeing a collared dove! Sounds like a good day though.
I have to agree with the others, you got some great species today :) The Whinchat may be distant but it's a gorgeous photo, with the light and the background colours. Hope your back sorts itself out quickly.
Seems like the effort you put has paid dividends. Hope you get that back sorted soon.!
Some days are like that....same here. We saw lots of birds but the pics were meh. Love that butterfly you have in that shot. Interesting patterns. But I got two lifers today and that was exciting! Hope you have a fun week ahead full of more finds.
Hi!
Great photos
Have a nice week
/ingemar
Sorry to hear your back is still playing up Al. I bet you are fed up! Lovely whinchat pic and a good tally.
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