Sorry ,I should of done this on Sunday and time seems to have run away from me . So willow and I were out on Saturday and it was still pretty cold with a slight frost. Overall the patch was still pretty quiet and I failed to add to the species list.
Winter Thrush made up the bulk of the sightings with 27 plus Blackbird seen ,its been a great winter for this species .Redwing chipped in with 44 and Fieldfares numbered 34 . Both numbers lower than normal ,but the birds roam over the area so sometimes they will be elsewhere feeding . I could only find 1 Mistle Thrush ,but there must be more around in the vicinity.
On the pastures a healthy 8 Stock Dove fed on the pastureland and a cracking count of 44 plus Skylarks were seen including a flock of 30 overhead. That's a good count for this time of year, again I think these birds range over the area during the winter time.
There were lower numbers of Meadow Pipits today with 16 seen today .They are feeding in the top fields at the moment. Just a single Pied Wagtail kept them company.
In the hedges a superb Male Bullfinch was seen , stunning in the winter light.
The best of the rest were 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Buzzard and 2 Jay.
Sunday at first appeared to be milder but there was a cold wind so in the end I felt colder than Saturday by the time I had finished the walk.
It was a case of more of the same really with some species in greater numbers other less so. The Thrush family were scattered over the patch today with 20 plus Blackbird, 65 plus Fieldfare ,125 plus Redwing (much higher than yesterday), 8 plus Song Thrush and 4 Mistle Thrush .
It was nice to see 11 lapwing on the patch with 10 flying straight over and 1 dropping briefly onto pasture .I love them , really great birds.
I did manage to find a new species for they ear on the patch in the form of 9 Greylag Geese which passed towards the river meadows .This takes us to 49 species for this little patch of England. What will be the 50th species this year.
A early sign of spring came in the form of a drumming Greater Spotted Woodpecker, with another 2 been seen as well, the other member of the Woodpecker family that we regularly see here chipped in with a Green Woodpecker calling in the distance.
On the pastures there were less Skylarks today only 6 seen today, but one was singing (something was in air) but on the up side a cracking count of 64 plus Meadow Pipits were in the top fields. Again there was only a single Pied Wagtail to keep them company.
On the raptor front a female Kestrel was seen being mobbed by the local Jackdaws. The Stock Dove count was down with 6 seen today.
The best of the rest were 2 Buzzard, 2 Bullfinch, and a single Jay.
