Another quick update , from not seeing any House Martins this morning a large flock of 100 plus along with 100 plus Swallow moved over the village at 2.30pm.
In my previous update I forgot to mention the week just gone. The big news is that just about everyone in the village has seen the Barn Owl that is hunting in the field next to the cottage, the only person not too is of course yours truly. That would be number 85 for the patch this year ,so I am going to keep my eyes peeled.
The last week has been quite busy with calling Little and Tawny Owls on a nightly basis. I have still seen Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs in the hedgerows but very little else until today. Swallows and to a lesser extent House Martins have moved through .
The trickle of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks has continued but no great numbers yet although it is still early.
One more week at work and then I am off for a week ,so expect almost daily bulletins around that time.
Sunday 14 September 2014
The Stench of Death
Saturdays walk was ruined by the delightful hobby by the local law breaking local hunt as they pursued in the past time of Cubbing .Against the law they send in a pack of hounds into a field whilst surrounding the field with riders to kill fox cubs .It amazes me how these people think they are above the law of the land .There were at least 50 riders including kids , just so friggin wrong . As a result Willow and I had to cancel our walk .
It therefore came as a relief on Sunday morning then that there were no sounds of the hunt to be heard. It was grey with low cloud and maybe a tad chillier .
So the first bird I heard was a singing Chiffchaff .The magic hedgerow seem to have lost some of its magic but after some searching of the other spots there were some reasonable counts of Chiffchaffs with 12 pus seen . I managed to also find 4 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat and a Lesser Whitethroat.
There were more small signs of Autumn to be seen with a party of 5 Mistle Thrush , small numbers of Meadow pipits with 6 been seen and 2 Skylark. Of note there seem to be more Song Thrush than of late with at least 6 birds , some to be arriving from high eastwards .
There were at least 3 Jays around today and a flyover Pied Wagtail passed south west. For the numbers Swallows stole the show with 129 plus passing east to south east. There were today no House Martins the first time in a long while none have been seen .
There are more Goldfinches of late with 45 plus on the patch today including a flock of 25 . A Bullfinch was heard from the usual place, but I could not see it.
The log for birds of prey today comprised of a female Sparrow Hawk, male Kestrel and 3 Buzzards. The usual resident Ravens (2), gronked over the patch .
There are more Robins on the patch at the moment with at least a dozen seen or heard ,are they winters visitors already or are they the product of a good breeding season locally ?
Other birds seen today were a Green Woodpecker , 3 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Stock Dove and a skien of feral Greylag Geese (23), .With the weather set for the foreseeable future I can only hope that the big one turns up ,it cannot be far away with the likes of Wryneck seen not to far away in Gloucester. We just need one more species to match last years total of 85 and now that the bird feeders are stocked up and more and more birds are appearing the garden I have high hopes.
It therefore came as a relief on Sunday morning then that there were no sounds of the hunt to be heard. It was grey with low cloud and maybe a tad chillier .
So the first bird I heard was a singing Chiffchaff .The magic hedgerow seem to have lost some of its magic but after some searching of the other spots there were some reasonable counts of Chiffchaffs with 12 pus seen . I managed to also find 4 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat and a Lesser Whitethroat.
There were more small signs of Autumn to be seen with a party of 5 Mistle Thrush , small numbers of Meadow pipits with 6 been seen and 2 Skylark. Of note there seem to be more Song Thrush than of late with at least 6 birds , some to be arriving from high eastwards .
There were at least 3 Jays around today and a flyover Pied Wagtail passed south west. For the numbers Swallows stole the show with 129 plus passing east to south east. There were today no House Martins the first time in a long while none have been seen .
There are more Goldfinches of late with 45 plus on the patch today including a flock of 25 . A Bullfinch was heard from the usual place, but I could not see it.
The log for birds of prey today comprised of a female Sparrow Hawk, male Kestrel and 3 Buzzards. The usual resident Ravens (2), gronked over the patch .
There are more Robins on the patch at the moment with at least a dozen seen or heard ,are they winters visitors already or are they the product of a good breeding season locally ?
Other birds seen today were a Green Woodpecker , 3 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Stock Dove and a skien of feral Greylag Geese (23), .With the weather set for the foreseeable future I can only hope that the big one turns up ,it cannot be far away with the likes of Wryneck seen not to far away in Gloucester. We just need one more species to match last years total of 85 and now that the bird feeders are stocked up and more and more birds are appearing the garden I have high hopes.
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