PATCH BONANZA

31/01/10
god can you believe it, a month gone already..........

had planned to do most of the patch today(map coming soon)

at the riverside fields a singing stock dove, my first this year and very nice to have an inclin to come in a few weeks time, the return of spring.


a bit further up the path, a buzzard was perched on the hedgeline(as always):

now the day gets interesting, there was tons of activity at the feeding stations at the caravan park south of blackstone, so i stopped and scanned, and after a bit a call sneezed out 'pee-chooo'

MARSH TIT x3

yes you read right folks, 3 marsh tit, presumable the wintering bird that has dissapeared, the 2nd bird on the day of the discovery of the wintering bird and a 3rd from the woodland on the opposite side of the river

then a splashing sound got me spinning on my heels to see a adult little grebe scuttle across 2 areas of willow, yes there lingering.........(video of last weeks bird)

at this point 3 female goosander flew downriver.

a nuthatch also visited the feeders

then the temperatures dropped, well below freezing i would say, and it started snowing, i took a look at the buzzard through the scope and i couldent help but feel sorry for it, a quick stop off at home to warm up and have a quick drink and i was back on the patch but this time heading southwards hopeing for some gulls on the basins. NOT ONE BLOODY GULL

not even a f*****g BHG

but dissapointment turned into amazement........

I FOUND MECCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a medium sized pool, surrounded by 'pythags', ahhhhhhhhh, somewhere good, on my patch, and the highlights was a flock of these:

A flock of no less than 52 LESSER REDPOLLS in birch and willow/scrub on the south shore of the pool, i ended up spending 1 1/2 hours here scanning through the flock and trying to ID a raptor, which despite being around for a good 3 mins was distant, the 1st idea was goshawk, with the long neck and thickset wings showed well on the bird, i even passed the news out as goshawk, but around 40 mins after the sighting, i saw the bird again, closer this time, but it revealed something shocking, it wasent a goshawk, it wasent even a british falcon, it was an escapee or hydrid, dont you just hate escapies(yep dont know how to spell this either)

i the redpoll flock was 40c goldfinch and 5 siskin, a pair of bullfinch was also noted while here ......

back on lickhill a pair of stock dove were in the vismig field

ohhh, patch birding can be great

MB