Sunday 29 March 2015

Spring Stalls as Winter hangs on

The last week on the patch has been very quiet with the main high light being a very brief singing Blackcap midweek , it has not been seen or heard of since so must of been in a hurry to carry on North. I had seen a couple in the winter so it may of been a departing bird or maybe an arriving summer migrant.
Apart from that a calling Tawny Owl was the only other real high light in a week short of any other summer migrants.
So when Willow and I hit the patch on Saturday we did not expect to find anything out of the ordinary .The weather was grey and breezy with the odd shower not very spring like at all !
The only Summer migrant that we are recording at the moment is small numbers of Chiffchaffs that are passing through at the moment. A bird seems to have set up territory in nexts doors orchard and as such is in fine voice. I managed to find 4 on Saturday including a bird in hedgerow after a sharp shower so maybe it was passing overhead and had been brought down by the rain .
The winter hangs on in the form of winter Thrush with a fine flock of 150 plus Fieldfare which have been feeding in the top fields , a single Redwing was heard passing over and a Mistle Thrush was in a tree near to the cottage. There appears to be plenty of singing Song Thrush around as well.
On the pastures 8 Stock Doves were seen and 5 Skylarks were singing their hearts out in the belief that spring must arrive soon.
The trickle of Pied Wagtails continues with 6 passing over. The best bird of Saturday was a very approachable Raven which seemed quite happy for Willow and I to stop and get a good luck .They really are massive when you see them on the ground  .
The best of the rest (it was a poor morning were a Green Woodpecker, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Buzzard.
With the clocks going forward and the start of British Summer time it was only normal for it to be smashing down with rain and a howling gale to be taking place.
I was pretty reluctant to go out but Willow can be pretty persistent and lays on the guilt trip so I was out the door by 8am.
It was more of the same fair really with a single Chiffchaff singing and plenty of resident bird song going.
Winter Thrush consisted of  92 plus Fieldfare and again a single Redwing.  On the pastures were a good count of 10 plus Stock Dove and Skylarks kept on singing with 6 doing their best in the  howling wind .
A small group of gulls consisted of 15 Lesser Black Backed, 5 Herring and 1 Common Gull feeding on sheep pasture. The only other birds of note on the fields were 4 Pied wagtails.
 On the raptor font a single Buzzard was seen worming and a large female Sparrow Hawk put the fear of God into the local Blackbirds.
An unusual sound was that of a calling Moorhen ,confirmation that our birds seem to have returned for the summer .
The usual Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were noted. So a very quiet week ends and with the weather not looking good it might be the same this upcoming week.
The best birds of the week for me were 2 Common Crane which visited nearby Ashleworth Ham  on Saturday evening .They were  found by local birders Alan Hooper and Steve French aka The orchard Centre Crew , a good sighting and it was nice to chat to some local birders and just see whats going on the local bird scene Alan and Steve are building  a nice list at a young site and you can find Steves blog if you visit the Gloster Birder site. Although not on the local patch it was hard to resist not going to see them .

Sunday 22 March 2015

Winters last /Summers first

The  last week has seen a few birds move through the patch with winters birds overlapping the first of the spring migrants.
On Wednesday in a quick lunch time dash on only part of the patch I found the first 3 Chiffchaff of the year ( number 57 for the year ) along the magic hedgerow , they were feeding quietly all in the same bush ,one bird looked very grey but I am not brave enough to claim a Sibe , along side them was another migrant Gold crest .They were obviously newly arrived birds as they fed very close to where I was standing ,unconcerned about my presence. also seen on my dash was another Sparrowhawk which passed over and a good count of 11 Buzzards were up enjoying the conditions. Add to that a pair of displaying Ravens and it turned out to be a good little half an hour.
So when Saturday arrived Willow and I were out by 7.30am .We emerged into bright sunshine if not a little colder than of late.
The first bird to hit the radar was a calling Green Woodpecker but as usual we did not see it ,we did however see another later on in the walk .The other member of the woodpecker family we see here The Greater Spotted got into the act with 1 drumming bird and then a flyover pair .
Winter Thrush have still been passing through and after seeing small numbers of Redwings  ( 1 to 5 birds), it was a surprise to find 28 plus birds including one flock of 21 that passed over due north. Fieldfares have been seen in just ones and twos of late so when  I entered the top field s I was not expecting a large flock of 141 plus ! They have been in much lower numbers of late so these must be passing migrants.
Along side them were a nice number of 9 Skylarks many of which were singing . A small number of 7 Meadow Pipits passed over north.
From somewhere in the hedges called a Red Legged Partridge and a nice showing of 8 Stock Dove was nice. After a few days of double figure counts of Pied Wagtails it was back to earth on Saturday with just 2 seen .I have not found a White wagtail yet in amongst the smart Pied yet.
After the winters absence it was great to hear the song of 4 newly arrived Chiffchaffs ,they will increase over the next few weeks, although looking back they were 3 days later than last year.
On the raptor front a female Kestrel was seen getting a good kicking from the local Jackdaws and 3 Buzzards were up and about. Species number 58 then appeared on the radar when a Little  Owl was heard calling from one of the old trees ,it must have had a bad night as it was calling at 8.45am.
A single Jay was seen flying strongly northwards. On the pastureland a good size flock of 30 plus Lesser Blacked Backed Gulls and 18 Herring Gulls were present.
 So with a good Saturday in the bag it seemed only right that we would find our first Wheatear on a grey but milder Sunday morning , well we didn't and overall it seemed a fairly quiet and disappointing walk, but as usual the patch will always find a little something to keep you coming back.
The first part of the walk was pretty quiet with very little to report apart from the good numbers of Skylarks which were singing, I counted 8 in the end. There appeared to be a few more Pied wagtails passing this morning but we still only counted a total of 6 in the end.
On the pastures were a Red Legged Partridge ,a count of 11 Stock Dove which is almost usual now.
As I neared the old orchard an unfamiliar song rang out ,I knew from  it somewhere  and it proved that I was right in searching the old grey matter when I saw a Redwing in full song .I had heard when in Northern Finland a few summers ago. In the end I counted just 4 Redwing in total will they be the last until the Autumn ?
As I walked further on a single Meadow Pipit passed over northwards, but my attention was then drawn to a further flock of 30 plus which landed a ploughed field. They seemed to have dropped from on high as I had not even clocked them until they were almost above me.
From the nearby trees and hedges 2 Chiffchaff  called there numbers down from yesterday ,no doubt the other birds had moved on.
Getting to the top fields I soon picked out a few Fieldfares but all of sudden they all erupted into the air and over 240 plus were counted along side 80 plus Starling ,at first I was annoyed with myself but suddenly realised it was not me that had put them to flight but a superb male Peregrine Falcon which screamed through the centre of the wheeling flock. Bloody fantastic !
The best of the rest were 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Buzzard.
 So winter birds still linger with us and the first summer migrants are starting to arrive and we found 2 new species for the year although I think we may be a bit behind last year at his same point.
Things should start to quicken up in the next few weeks, so in the words of Shaw Taylor "keep em peeled".

Sunday 15 March 2015

Glad to be back

With 2 weeks being off the patch due to working abroad, Willow and I were out early by 6.30am . The weather was grey ,with cold north wind and the odd bout of drizzle .It was in stark contrast to the weather I had enjoyed when working in Holland.
I was hoping to pick up the first spring migrant but I failed in that quest but I did however manage to see a few birds on the move.
Overhead there was some movement with a good steady flow of Lesser Black Backed Gulls moving north ,some where in the region of 100 plus moved over along with smaller numbers of Herring , Black Headed and Common Gulls . Along side them were a good number of Starlings that headed north for about an hour just after 6,30am  , some 850 plus were counted .Winter Thrush are still about with 50 Fieldfare which flew over due north and a further 20 plus were on the top fields. In sharp contrast were the small number of Redwings with just 4 seen this morning ,3 over north and a single bird in cover.
On the pasture land were up to 6 singing Skylarks , many have now left to their breeding grounds else where . In the top fields (which is looking good for Wheatears right now ), there was a mixed flock of 10 plus Pied Wagtails and 10 plus Meadow Pipits .
At last I have something to report from the hedgerows with the finding of 2 migrant Gold crest,  I was hoping for an early Chiffchaff but it was a sign of some spring migrants moving ,it also brought the number of species seen this year to 55 .
Its pleasing to also report 3 Ravens around after a few weeks absence. As I walked along the edge of the top fields 2 birds leapt from the field edge and into a nearby hedgerow, getting my bins onto them brought me a cracking view of 2 male Reed Bunting ,with a good number seen on  a fellow birders patch at Hartpury , it was nice to eventually borrow a couple. They are most likely birds moving to their breeding grounds elsewhere as they do not as far as I know breed on the patch . So in 2 brief moments two new species were added to the year list with Reed Bunting taking us to 56 .
We still seem to be hanging onto a few more Stock Doves than normal with 8 plus seen around the patch .There were some that were singing and displaying around the breeding areas.
On the Woodpecker front there were 3 drumming Greater Spotted and 1 plus calling Green Woodpecker although once again I never caught sight of it.
The best of the rest was a single Buzzard.
So the species list jumps to 56

Monday 2 March 2015

SpringTwitch

The end of February and already into March  and the first signs of Spring on the patch . Despite the weather which is more in the vain of winter with hail showers and heavy winds. When the sun does manage to shine there is however the faint glimmer of warmth in its rays.
The last week has been dominated by the passage of large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares that have passed through the patch. They have been accompanied by a reasonable number of Starlings and three figure counts of all three species have been a regular feature of the week . The other bird of note in the week has been a couple of Sparrow hawks that have been seen.
It was not until Saturday afternoon that Willow and I got onto the patch and I did not expect any great shakes with the hour being a lot later than our usual jaunt time .
One of the first things I noticed was the large number of Stock Dove that were around the patch and a count of 34 was noted. They must in some part be early spring migrants as I also noted a small but steady north passage of Woodpigeons.
The winter Thrush bonanza continued with 105 plus Fieldfare and 55 plus Redwing .We now have more normal numbers of Blackbirds although I still managed at least 7 plus Song Thrush .
On the pasture were just 10 Skylark and with them just 11 Meadow Pipit ,there will be more of each as birds pass northwards in the near future.
The only other thing of note was 4 Cormorant which passed downriver and a scattering of Chaffinch (a flock of 20 ) and a flock of 12 Goldfinch which passed north west.
 So we were up and  at em on Sunday and Willow and I were on the patch by 7.30 am Sunday morning. It was a clear sunny morning  , just perfect to be out and about on the patch .
First bird seen was one of the garden Jays feeding on the lawn ,a good start.
As we left the cottage 2 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming ,a good spring time sound  . The other usual woodpecker species the Green called from somewhere in the distance. On the pastures there were at least 12 Skylark with up too 4 singing, a great sound and a perfect sign that for mother nature Spring is around the corner.
 A nice flock of migrant Meadow Pipits were on the edge of the patch with a flock of 50 plus and another small flock of 5 elsewhere on the patch . They do not stay for long and its really amazing to see the turn over in numbers daily. Fieldfares were down with 60 plus but Redwings numbered at least 110 plus today. There were 8 plus Song Thrush with at least 5 singing.
Elsewhere a single Red Legged Partridge dived for cover as we approached and Stock Doves were still in higher than normal numbers with 15 plus. 
The distant sound of a flock of 7 Canadian Geese brought my attention to 3 Mute Swans as they flew towards the fishing ponds that brought up the number of species to 53 for the year .
The small passage of spring time Pied Wagtails continues with 7 on the patch . The final bird of the day of note was again nothing rare but the sound of a Moorhen calling from one of the flooded ditches and close to where they bred last year was a sign of some of the patches summer visitors are arriving .It also was the 54th species for 2015. So although nothing startling was seen 2 new species for the year  and a few signs of a change in the seasons.