At last the rain has abated and the sun has come out. Even before I got to where I park I noticed a bird which would become part of today's story. At least 50 buntings, all Yellowhammers as far as I could see, flew from the hedgerow between Bannams Wood and Morton Bagot hamlet.
Once Dave arrived we relocated them in the hedgerows around the paddocks, and eventually counted 67 (a new record count here for me) along with about 20 Reed Buntings. I suspect there were actually more Yellowhammers than we actually logged.
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| Yellowhammer |
There seemed to be a lot of birds around generally, and we hadn't gone too far before I added a photo-tick, as a male Bullfinch showed well.
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| 35. Bullfinch |
As we approached the flashes we counted 159 Black-headed Gulls and 135 Lapwings flying about. Dave was a little ahead of me, and saw a Green Sandpiper there, but it had disappeared by the time I caught him up.
Just past the flash I looked across at the channel behind the hedge and located our only year tick of the day. Two
Wigeon were swimming with the Mallards. Still no Teal though.
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| 36. Wigeon |
The views weren't great and the birds were partially obscured by the hedge, but they were worth a record shot.
Further on we saw one of 50 Linnets perched nicely on a tree above us, and Dave gripped me off again by seeing a Brambling which I missed out on.
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Linnet
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Later on, I drove to the south end and noticed a whole row of Linnets on the wires. This gave me an idea. Normally counting these Linnets involves counts like; 96, 97, 98, oh bugger...as they all fly off. So why not photograph them all, and count them later.
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| A flock of 176 Linnets |
I'm really loving this camera.
Dave had gone by now, but I was not quite finished. Time to add another easy photo tick.
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| 37. Jackdaw |
They all count.
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