The omens were not good today. I met Dave at the patch in pouring rain and we trudged soggily towards the ringer's favoured area with a distinct shortage of optimism. A little further on a Blackbird alarm call caused us to check out the other side of the hedge we were walking down, and we were very pleased to locate a rather soggy (and possibly pissed off) Tawny Owl.
We left the Owl where it was and continued northwards. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad visit after all.
The scrape field contained a herd of cows spread right across it. This rather put us off any thoughts of looking for Jack Snipe, but I later found out that the ringers had caught one yesterday.
 |
| Jack Snipe - Tony and Leigh Kelly |
Dave was rather hoping that last Monday's Great White Egret might still be around, but as we approached the flash field there was no sign of it. In fact all we saw was 24 very nervous Teal, a few Mallard, and four Lapwings. However, as we started on the return journey a couple of adult Herring Gulls and a single adult Common Gull flew east. The latter was only the second here this year.
On reaching Stapenhill Wood, Dave proposed we made our way through it in the hope of a Woodcock. I have since heard that the ringers also caught one of those yesterday somewhere on the site.
We were unsuccessful, and became hopelessly separated after Dave opted for the much more challenging brookside route. After a while we could only communicate by phone, and it turned out that Dave had picked the right option. He rang to say he was watching a Hawfinch by Netherstead Farm (as its now called). I made my way towards him, but was too late.
We slowly searched for it, but after about twenty minutes we'd pretty much given up. Virtually back at our cars Dave scanned the bushes back where we'd come from and found it. This time I at least saw it, but it was miles away. It appeared to be with another bird, which I speculated might be another one. To resolve the issue I zoomed the camera up to the max and peered at the image. It turned out that the other bird was a Fieldfare.
The photograph I took was frankly horrible, but just as a record I present it now.
 |
| Heavily cropped, the Hawfinch is on the right |
I decided to try for a closer image, but only got halfway down the footpath before it took off and flew in a long arc across the fields before disappearing in the direction of the village.
Getting back into my car I looked up at the nearest pylon and found it now contained an adult Peregrine.
The weather had improved considerably and there seemed to be more birds about, but our time had run out.
I'll leave you with Saturday's ringing totals.
No comments:
Post a Comment