Wednesday December 1 - The Thrift

 This morning, to continue the recent theme, I headed due west to the edge of the Circle and a one km square occupied by a wood called The Thrift. It felt like exploring, but when I came to add my records I found I'd been there three times in spring 1997.

The Thrift

As you can see, the area is 50% mixed woodland, and 50% farmland (half arable and half pasture). What the map doesn't convey is that it was also quite hilly.

I enjoyed my winter walk even though the birdy offerings were pretty much as expected. I made counts of 90 Redwings, 19 Blackbirds, 42 Goldfinches, 10 Siskins, and 19 Lesser Redpolls for example.

Common Buzzard

The Thrift

The highlights came at the end of the walk. The small copse shown at the northern edge of the map contained a mixed flock of Siskins and Goldfinches, but also a Brambling. This called several times, but despite my best efforts I was unable to see it. Walking away from the wood after giving up, I was pleased to see a flock of 40 Skylarks flying over one of the arable fields. This is the first substantial lark flock I've seen this winter.

The fact that I can't remember my previous visits to the Thrift has made me look at these visits some 25 years ago. One seems to have been a casual reference to the presence of Buzzards as I walked from Feckenham passed the wood. More significantly another was an April visit where I listed just a few highlights, but these included six Tree Sparrows. 

It just goes to show that although Tree Sparrows were good enough to reach my notebook in 1997, the fact that they have not remained in my memory suggests that they were no big deal back then. They would be now. Morton Bagot lost its Tree Sparrows in 2011/2012, and I suspect they went from all around here at the same time. One thing I hope to establish in my expanded area of interest is whether any have hung on, unnoticed in some neglected part of the Circle. I can think of several other "lost" species it would be worth looking out for.

I expect to be back at Morton Bagot at the weekend.