It was still pretty mild, although colder weather is forecast, and the six Stonechats I saw were all chasing gnats when they weren't chasing each other. Colder weather will be bad news for them.
There were still plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings about, maybe 150 in total. I often wonder how many you might have to look at before you see a rare thrush, a lifetime's worth probably. The flash field contained the usual Teal and Mallard, plus a drake Shoveler and a Common Snipe.
On the return journey I found myself contemplating whether to pick my way through the brambles and rotting wood of Stapenhill Wood in the hope of flushing a Woodcock. I decided not to bother, but at the last minute went in anyway. I flushed a Woodcock. This is the first time I've seen one in this apparently ideal habitat, and only my third on the patch. They do occur in the surrounding woods in winter, and should probably be regarded as a very elusive winter resident. There was no chance of a photograph, and to be fair I only just saw it at all as it flew through the trees.
The wood also served up a mystery in the form of an animal skull which imagined would be easy to identify.
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| Badger skull - thanks to the twitter community |
It was about four and a half inches long, and not in very good condition. Maybe a Grey Squirrel skull, but it didn't really fit anything I could find on the Internet. (ps I'm told it is a Badger skull).
Returning to birds, there weren't many finches around; nine Lesser Redpolls, 25 Linnets, a dozen Goldfinches, and a single Siskin. An adult Peregrine was haunting the pylons as usual, and seemed to sense I was trying to photograph it, flying off before I could press the shutter. A second Sparrowhawk, a very small male, landed above me in the wood and also didn't hang around.
The Woodcock has taken me to 119 species for the year, extending the record closer to the magic 120. Can it be done?
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