Cloudy with virtually no wind. Mild. Ideal conditions for a walk around the patch. With no shooting going on, the sound of silence was wonderful.
I was a bit late starting due to finding a Hawfinch about 200 metres from our house! It had gone by the time I returned with binoculars and camera.
For a change I decided to lug my scope and tripod around, and this allowed me to spot two Bramblings in a flock of 107 Linnets. The female posed quite well, but the brighter male was too hard to photograph.
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| Brambling (on the left) |
My real goal was to find the Merlin I missed on Sunday. There was plenty of Merlin food around; Linnets, Chaffinches, Redpolls and the like. But the main event failed to show. The hedgerows were full of Redwings, while several flocks of Fieldfares headed west. There was a great late autumn feel about the day.
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| Redwing and Bullfinch |
The flash field and pool were reasonably productive, hosting a Green Sandpiper, 14 Teal, six Wigeon, two Shovelers, 18 Greylag Geese, and 12 Snipe. At the edge of the pool behind the flash I found a female Kingfisher which tolerated my presence surprisingly well.
Finally, I couldn't resist photographing a Lesser Redpoll perched on wires above the scrubby part of Stapenhill Wood.
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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