Sunday 31 March 2013

The first day of British Summer time dawned clear with a heavy frost so it seemed only right that the first birds of the day were a flock of 65 Redwing feeding on thawing pasture.The other winter Thrush featured as well with 78 plus Fieldfare . Meadow Pipits were passing through with 87 plus heading north to north east and it was almost feeling Springlike by this time with the sun up and the wind having died away .
A pair of displaying Ravens were a great sight and a distant drumming Greater Spotted Woodpecker added to the springlike feel . Pied Wagtail were more numerous than they have been with a total of 6 been seen , some north bound migrants in the number. Two Comarants passed over high north east and our first singing Linnet of the spring was welcome .
 We also seem to have a small influx of Skylark with at least 12 been seen /heard. One of the local Buzzards flapped past and a Mistle Thrush was in a situ.
 But the best birds were two Chiffchaff feeding in a sunlit hedgerow ,flycatching together , newly arrived and no doubt feeding up before moving on or starting to sing on their territory.
The patch list goes to 65 and now spring feels as if it is on it"s way

Friday 29 March 2013

The great spring continues with a bone chilling easterly today ,although the sun tried to make a brief sortie at one point.
The spring migration is so slow that it has hardly started here , pathetic is a word to describe it .
A flock of 24 Fieldfare moving east provided hope of something happening but that was soon shown not to be happening. There were 7 Skylark about the fields and the Meadow Pipit flock was around the 60 plus mark with 3 other over flying northward migrants .
I also saw a flock of 33 Black HeadedGulls with 3 Common Gulls which were soaring very high northwards ,maybe migrants ? .
There was a hunting Kestrel over one of the field ditches and a couple of Buzzards were soaring about , also a flock of 55 Woodpigeon were feeding in one of the sheep fields . Perhaps the most unusual bird was a Jay a bird we do not see here until the Autumn , although this is the second spring bird this year.
It can only get better , but when ?

Wednesday 27 March 2013

The stalemate with the weather persists with a cold northeast wind and snow blowing in the wind , hard to believe after last year at this time. I went out not expecting to see any summer migrants and I was not suprised when I did not see any ,although there were some early spring migants around. The Kestrel was in it"s usual place having been missing over the last day or so.
The first flock of Fieldfares were seen, the first for a while, with a good 200 plus in the nearby trees, but no Redwings today. The newly manured fields have attracted good numbers of corvids with 110 plus Jackdaws notable. The hightlite of today was a superb male Peregrine Falcon which headed north east , the 2nd sighting of the year.
A Raven soared overhead ,and a Green Woodpecker was heard. A good sighting was had when a flock of 14 Golden Plover headed north east , these will be the last until the Autumn.
The best of the rest were Buzzard, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 3 Stock Dove, 2 Skylark .This year spring is very late and I for one am bored now with winter. Bring on the sunshine

Sunday 24 March 2013

If it was possible it was even colder today , although the snow had gone the wind was eyewatering ! . But species no 64 appeared  in the form of a Jay , a bird that I do not see until the autumn ,so maybe a bird returning north.
A good size flock of 50 plus Redwing were in the hedgerows  , the first for a few days.The list was short but I still managed to see a Raven and the flock of Meadow Pipits from yesterday were still there with another 4 over heading north .A few more Skylarks were about with 7 in the fields ,apart from a Buzzard that was all of interest
Patch list is now 64 

Saturday 23 March 2013

Winter has returned with blizzards and general crap weather, what a change to last year . I was not going to post on the blog as I thought there would not be alot to tell you about. But I am on here because even in the middle of a blizzard intrepid north bound travellers continue to battle on , namely a flock of 60 plus Meadow Pipits which were grounded by the snow .This follows on from reports from Portland of hundreds arriving yesterday from across the sea .
 The garden has hosted Nutatch ,male Blackcap and a summer plumaged female Brambling over the last two days .
The weather forcast for the next few days is still cold ,it is hard to believe that on the 1st of April last year I was watching a Cuckoo . Spring seems a long way off at the moment .

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Patch birding can sometimes be a very hard task ,but I suppose thats what makes it intresting , today was just dire, for mid March when I should be reporting new arrivals it was hard to find anything at all , but every cloud as they say and yes even when Crap a year tick arrived with a calling Curlew near or over the river Meadows .
Fieldfare with 6 plus and Redwing with 10 plus were hanging on and Stock Dove with 7 made up the numbers .Apart from 2 Buzzards and 2 Drumming Greater Spotted Woodpeckers that really was about it
The patch list now stands at 63

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Spring refuses to arrive with a north east wind , but here it was still almost mild but elsewhere snow and ice and heavy rain, all this is making any migrants late and by now I would of expected to have recorded Chiffchaff on the patch but as yet there is one big no show.
Patch birding can be a hard task and today confirmed just that ,although it started well enough with a Tawny Owl calling at 5am
On the patch 2 pairs of Buzzard were soaring about and the female Kestrel was hunting.. Just 2 Meadow Pipit today both straight over northwards  and a Pied Wagtail was over as well.
There were however 65 plus Redwing and 10 Fieldfare which flew off north and a further 9 Fieldfare went over high to the north east.
 Stock Dove are still around in good numbers with 9 been seen today including a flock of 5 together.
Apart from a single Skylark I am afraid it was really dire, here"s hoping for better in the following days.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Ok , so I have had a couple of days off work and have been to a couple of local birding sights but I have also made a couple rounds of the local patch ,and although the last vestiges of winter remain there are a few signs that spring is coming although saying that this weeks weather forcast is very wintery .
Saturday morning was a wet affair with heavy rain and there was an upsurge in Redwing 58 plus and Fieldfare70 plus , birds moving east perhaps. Skylarks belted their song with 9 been seen or heard. Stock dove numbered 12 and 2 Pied Wagtail passed over. The most notable bird was a migrant Coal Tit in one of the hedgerows , I never seen one on the patch away from the garden before. A couple of Buzzards took advantage of the breeze to stretch their wings.
Sunday was mild and a good start was a Brambing and a Lesser Redpoll on the feeders . At least 5 Buzzards were up and calling. I was hoping for the first spring migrant but was in  the end not successful .Two flocks of Lesser Black Backed Gulls passed north east , very high up and calling as they went , perhaps a bit of vis mig.
Stock Dove were seen with 4 present and there were 5 Skylark today.. There was however a real sign of spring with at first 1 Meadow Pipit over north and then a flock of 40 plus birds on rough pasture.
 Winter Thrush"s were 50 plus Redwing including 2 singing birds (a first for me in this country), and 20 plus Fieldfare. Perhaps another sign of migration was the presence of a flock 60 plus Chaffinch on stubble with another flock of 10 passing east.
There were also 500 plus Common Gull on sheep pasture,and  a massive assorted gull  flock passing over the Malverns at least 2500 birds , all soaring on thermals . Not on the patch but very impressive all the same
 So a bit of early spring movement and the first Chiffchaff or Wheatear cannot be far away , here hoping  

Thursday 14 March 2013

The last couple of  days have almost been springlike even though we have had heavy frosts ,but we are still to see any spring migrants on the patch even though they are beginning to be seen around and about.
The Brambling has still been in the garden but the Redpolls seem to have gone north .Raptors seen have been the wintering Kestrel which has reappeared , a fine female Sparrowhawk and the local Buzzards which finally got a chance to spread there wings with the fine weather.
Winter Thrush"s are declining in number with a max of 35 plus Fieldfare and 20 plus Redwing and a Mistle Thrush which is still hanging on. There are at least 5 singing Skylark at the moment , so lets hope they can find somewhere to breed. It was nice to see 2 Goldcrest flycatching from some conifers .
There are only about 220 plus Starling left the rest having moved on .
 The best of the rest were  2 Red Legged Partridge, 5 Stock Dove, Cormarant downriver, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a party of 35 summerplumaged Black  Headed Gulls which moved northwards , 1 Brown Hare was also seen .

Sunday 10 March 2013

Having spent the week working in Holland (did manage some token birding at an inland polder with at least 10,000 Wigeon, Coot, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe , Greylag Geeese in one large flock ), it was great to see what was going on the patch on Saturday morning. The weather was   quite cold and it was fairly obvious that although the first summer migrants have already been seen we were still in the grip of winter as far as the local birdlife was concerned .That been said there were a few signs of spring around with Pied Watail over north the first flock of 7 Meadow  Pipits  for awhile. Skylarks were about with 12 seen and some have started to sing . There were still 50 plus Redwing and 30 plus Fieldfare around .
There was also a large flock of 50 plus Black Headed Gull, 50 plus Lesser Black Backed Gull and 10 plus Herring Gull on sheep pasture these had the fear of god put int them when a superb Peregrine Falcon passed over heading east This is our 61st species of the year a great way to break the 60 barrier.
The best of the rest were Buzzard Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush and 10 Stock Dove.
 The patch list now stands at 61.
 Sunday had a north east wind and was very cold, however 4 Lesser Redpoll and a Brambling were on the feeders.
 On the patch 9 skylark were present  a Pied wagtail over north as was a Meadow Pipit. A massive 1100 plus Common Gull with 500 plus Black Headed Gull and 40 plus Lesser Black Backed Gull were on sheep Pasture
There were 50 plus Redwing with 145 plus Fieldfare and a nice flock of 30 plus  Goldfinch with 10 plus Greenfinch..
 A year tick for the patch in the form of a Cormorant flying upriver was nice.
 The best of the rest were Red Legged Partridge, Stock Dove.
The patch list is now 62

Saturday 2 March 2013

The first of March saw me only able to get out for a short while and only cover a small part of the patch, however a massive flock of 3500 plus Starling heading to roost was a great sight. Also tagging along were 15 each of Fieldfare and Redwing.
The 2nd of March felt like the first day of spring with 3 singing Skylark and another passing over.63 plus Fieldfare along with 156 plus Redwing were feeding in the horse paddocks and nearby were 750 plus Starling feeding on pasture.Stock Doves still numbered 10 and the invasion of Magpies continues with 13 been seen.
There was a small mixed flock of Finches in one of the hedgerows with at least 12 Goldfinch and 2 Lesser Redpoll with Greenfinch and Chaffinch. There was also the usual Kestrel.
A Lesser Redpoll was also on the feeders this morning .