A Christmas update

Sorry for the lack of updates ,but it has a been a busy run up to the Christmas period. The harshest winter and the 100 days of snow are no where to be seen in fact it has been very mild and now very very wet ,with heavy rain ,gales etc so the area is once again under water.
As far as the birdlife things have settled down with most birds been seen being winterers. On the feeders we were graced by a pair of Blackcaps for a day (male, female), and all the usual suspects have been seen although still no Coal Tits and only one day with Redpolls and no still no Bramblings. There is still time though .
On the patch on Christmas day Willow and I were out early and saw 100 plus each of Redwing and Fieldfare on pasture. a group of Meadow Pipits 15 plus are wintering and we have a good flock of 38 plus Skylark were around on rough pasture.
Around the cattle feeders were 4 Pied Wagtail and 3 Red Legged Partridge .A Mistle Thrush and 2 Ravens passed over .2 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were of interest.
Boxing Day morning was cold and clear ahead of another storm which is due, on the pasture land were 40  plus Skylark, 26 plus Meadow Pipits 4 Stock Dove and 3 Snipe feeding in a wet stubble field.
A Reed Bunting continues to winter here and there were 50 plus Black Headed Gulls on floodwater. A by now regular Raven passed over and 2 Buzzards ran the usual attacks by the local corvids.
Thrushes were represented by 58 plus Fieldfare ,20 plus Redwing and 8/9 Song Thrush including a flock of 7 .

Long overdue update.

It has been a few weeks since I updated the blog , to be honest I have been still walking the patch but there have been no birds of any consequence to write about.  So today I decided to make a big effort and try and find something worth writing about ,I failed ,this winter has been a huge disappointment so far , but then again it has been so mild far from the one predicted .
A good bird was a Chiffchaff in one of the hedgerows, the first for quite a while and a bird that is wintering with us.
 Thrush"s were a Mistle Thrush, 17 plus Fieldfare, 47 plus Redwing  and a dozen or so Blackbirds.
On the fields were 9 plus Skylark and a good 27 plus Meadow Pipits  , 3 Pied Wagtails and just 3 Stock Doves. It was odd to see a flock of 8 Magpies in the hedges. A Greater Spotted Woodpecker flew over . Raptors were a Buzzard which was worming and a hunting male Kestrel.
The year is limping to the end can we add one more species to the patch list for 2013 ? lets hope so but it would appear as likely as England winning the Ashes , but lets see .

The week that was

Autumn migration seems to have finished now so all we are awaiting are any movements brought on by colder weather etc. The few times I managed to walk on the patch resulted in the usual birds being seen in small numbers. The feeders in the garden are certainly quieter than this time last year. The highlight of the week was a calling Little Owl on Thursday afternoon at 4.15pm . it is a long time since I have heard or seen any of the above on the patch.
Saturday dawned cold and clear with a slight frost. The most obvious birds were Starling with at least 750 plus on the patch , they were feeding on pasture or in the old orchard . Fieldfares were evident with 75 plus along with 40 plus Redwing .
Meadow Pipits numbered 13 ,most were feeding around the cow feeding boughs, the boughs also attracted 2 male Reed Buntings ,but there may have actually been 3 as I saw another bird in the vicinity.
 Skylarks were on the stubble field with 15 plus over and around  and a lone Lapwing was feeding nearby.
The best of the rest were 2 Buzzard, Green Woodpecker, 2 Pied Wagtail and a Mistle Thrush .
 Sunday was a quiet cold grey day with the same birds around but in much lesser numbers , for example 50 plus each of Fieldfare and Redwing .The most outstanding feature of Sunday was the number of Blackbirds in all the hedges with at least 20 plus been seen and to be honest if I had counted them the number would be more substantial , there must of been an arrival overnight of continental birds to the area .
 It is very quiet at the moment so lets hope for some proper winter weather to bring us some birds . 

weekly update

The last week was very quite on the two times I managed to visit the patch, with just a few winter Thrush to report.
So Saturday it was a surprise to step out into a colder morning with a hint of frost .There had been an influx of Fieldfare with 200 plus in the area along with 100 plus Redwing feeding in the old orchard and in the hedges.
The star of the show was a male Peregrine which passed over causing panic in the Thrush ranks. 2 Raven were about they seem to becoming more regular nowadays.
A nice flock of 13 Stock Dove was nice to see.
The best of the rest were 4 Pied Wagtail ,2 Buzzard and 5 Meadow Pipit.
 Sunday was a still grey morning with low cloud but a warmer feel .The Fieldfare 200 plus and the Redwings 100 plus remained in the area .A Mistle Thrush also made itself known along with a noticeable increase in Blackbird numbers.
Meadow Pipits increased with 29 plus and there were 12 plus Skylarks on pasture. As I crossed one of the top fields a Snipe exploded from the long grass. A Green Woodpecker called as did a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Stock Dove were in the usual place.
The best of the rest were a Buzzard, a small flock of 10 Chaffinch, a nice total of 12 Pied Wagtail and circa 50 plus Starling.
 Colder weather is forecast for next week so lets see what that brings.

Sunny Sunday

After overnight rain Sunday dawned cold and sunny, alas no signs of any Redpoll today ! .It was obvious that were some birds on the move ,winter Thrushes were more obvious of late with 65 plus Fieldfare and 55 plus Redwing feeding on berries in the hedgerows ,there were more Blackbirds of late many being very flighty ,so some Scandanavian visitors have arrived.
Meadow Pipits at 10 were still here maybe they will stay the winter, whereas it would seem that there has been an influx of Skylarks with 36 overhead or on pastureland .
It was nice to see 2 male Yellowhammer together ,this follows yesterdays male the first for quite a few months. The winter flock of Linnet remains with 140 plus in three flocks on stubble fields. A small flock of 3 Bullfinch were in the hedges .
 The highlite for me was the sight of a flock of 67 Woodpigeon migrating high north to south , its great seeing migration in action.
The best of the rest were 2 Buzzard, 3 Stock Dove, Green Woodpecker, 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker ,Red Legged Partridge,2 Pied Wagtail.
 A nice walk with some good birds ,if it could just get a little colder.

Redpoll invasion !

It has been 10 days since I have updated this blog but in my defence I have been in Holland with work ,so it was up and at them this morning to see if anything has turned up on the patch.
The walk started off well with a mixed flock of 20 each of Redwing  and Fieldfare feeding on apple trees next door , more Fieldfares passed over the walk .
The small wintering flock of Meadow Pipits remain with about 15 feeding around a cattle feeding  bough ,also 3 Skylarks were in the same area .On the stubble fields the Linnet flock remains with 140 plus today ,there was also a male Yellowhammer there ,a rare visitor nowadays.
It was when I was nearly home that two finch passed overhead ,the call alerted me at first and I soon saw that they were Redpoll , they dropped onto the top of a Silver Birch tree giving nice views when all of a sudden a flock of 30 plus joined them ,this smashes the patch record. They soon moved off but I have stocked up my niger feeders and Black sunflower seeds so lets see if they return.
The best of the rest were a Buzzard ,Pied Wagtail , Greater Spotted Woodpecker .
With first frost forecast tonight lets see what the morning brings. 

The past weekend

Sorry about the late update, but time seemed to have run away with me over the last few days. A quick update on a short walk on Thursday yielded The Snipe, but it flew off high to the north and I have not seen it since.
Saturday dawned with a cooler feel as the season  should feel and a Mistle Thrush passed overhead south as soon as I left the house. Fieldfare passed west with 73 plus in two flocks and Redwing were in the hedges with 23 been seen ,there also were a few more Blackbirds than of late so maybe some winter visitors have arrived.
Meadow Pipits were passing over with a bit more vigour with 20 plus and Skylarks only numbered 3 and Pied Wagtails only 4 , so it was nice to see a small flock of 3 Bullfinch pass over , just ordinary ones not sadly the northern giants .
A call from high above again alerted me to a Golden Plover as it passed south west, again just a single bird maybe all the recent records relate to a single bird ? .A sign that winter is on its way was seen when a flock of 45 plus Lapwing landed on pasture ,the first flock of the season.  The Reed Bunting was still in the usual place ,resting and feeding up before it moves on.
Starling continue to trickle south with 80 plus and the first Buzzard for a day or so was welcome .
So out early Sunday ahead of the big storm and it was very calm ,with no wind and a silent feel to the atmosphere .There were a few birds on the move and 100 plus Starling, 43 plus Fieldfare,17 Redwing over passing south to south west.
 Meadow Pipits were more plentiful with 27 plus about and so were Pied Wagtail with 8 passing over or feeding in the fields , they were joined by 13 Skylark.
Another Mistle Thrush passed south and 5 Raven passed to the east calling as they went. Our bird of the day was a superb male Peregrine that went towards the river meadows .
3 Lapwing came in from high above the Malverns ,vis mig in action and a lesson that we should all keep an eye skywards at this time of year.
The best of the rest were a Buzzard, Stock Dove, a flock of 23 Black Headed Gulls and a small flock of 6 Linnet.