This is why I found myself back under Bannams Wood staring at Tit flocks as the early morning rain abated. I saw a Goldcrest high in the trees just as Dave drove around the corner and asked what I was up to. He parked up, but the pressure was now on and instead of a Goldcrest I located a Coal Tit, another little blighter that had eluded the camera.
I had a couple of opportunities to jot something down. After a year of drawing nothing I am a bit rusty, but anyway here are the fruits of my labours.
The actual field sketches are the two little ones, and the colour version based on the upper one was done when I got home. I didn't want to subject Dave to an hour of chasing a Coal Tit round so we drove to our usual starting point and began birding from Netherstead.
We felt there were more Redwings about, perhaps because of the colder weather earlier in the week, and also saw that the male Stonechat was still present. Another bird which was unusually prominent was Raven, and we saw at least seven by the time we got to the flash. A possible explanation for their presence was the sight of several dead bodies (birds) floating in the first flash. Also present were 50 live Teal, about 60 Mallard, a pair of Wigeon, and 40 or so Lapwings.
At this point we were suddenly surrounded by dogs and a polite shooter ambled up to apologise for the disturbance he and his mates were about to cause as they sent the dogs to "pick" the corpses. We watched as the dogs flushed everything including about five Snipe we had not seen. The corpses were mostly Mallard, but included a Teal and a Greylag Goose. Dave had the presence of mind to ask when the shooting season would end, and we were told Feb 1.
The return journey was enlivened by distant views of a Peregrine in a dog fight with a Crow over Bannams Wood.
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