Friday January 7

I have managed two ninety minute birding fixes since my last post. On Wednesday the weather seemed pretty calm and dry so I thought I'd spend an evening at Morton Bagot in the hope of connecting with a Barn Owl.

It was like old times, thousands of corvids and no Barn Owl. If anything, the Jackdaw roost seems even larger than it was in the days when I used to rush down after work. 

The flash field gave me some compensation, a female Shoveler being a year tick, while three Wigeon and  37 Teal kept it company.

This morning I decided to resume the exploring. I headed for Dagtail End, just south of Crabbs Cross, and stared into an impressive, but strictly private, wood called New Coppice. A public footpath skirted the wood and took me through sheep pastures to a stubble field.

Stubble

I'm very fond of stubble fields, but this one wasn't particularly productive. It did, however, give up a year-tick when a Common Snipe flew up and away. I also flushed four Skylarks and found a moderate flock of Redwings. 

Redwing

In a quiet moment I have calculated how many species I might expect to see in the Circle by the end of February without finding anything remotely unusual, and came up with a figure of 86. 

This afternoon I decided that the parties of Feral Pigeons on the bridges across the duel carriageways around here should be added, they are not racing pigeons and they don't spend the night in a pigeon-loft,  perfectly tickable then.