I headed down the track with my buckets of seed to the feeding station and it was obvious that the numbers of birds using the feeding station had increased as I found five Yellowhammers, 56 Tree Sparrows and about a dozen Chaffinch on the seed. The apples that I have been putting out had disappeared and there were a few Fieldfares at the feeding station, so perhaps they had been coming down to feed on them.
There were a number of Pink-footed Geese around this morning and it seemed to be a combination of birds being disturbed close by from feeding areas and birds flighting in from their saltmarsh roost that made the numbers up. Wherever they had come from I had 2,512. On the flood Lapwing numbers had decreased to 21 and I didn't have any Teal at all.
Reduced numbers of Lapwings were on the flood
My plan was to walk along the hedge and margin, as this area can hold quite a few birds, and then on to some woodland to check for Woodcocks. Along the hedge and margin I encountered six Reed Buntings, a further 19 Fieldfares, four Blackbirds, two Redwings, eight Corn Buntings, a Goldcrest and a monster flock of Chaffinch.
I say monster flock, but I suppose compared to the flocks I used to see thirty years ago, this mornings flock of 264 is small beer, but nevertheless quite a number for today. There were some Bramblings amongst them, but I could only find four, but I am sure there were quite a few more.
Part of the monster flock of Chaffinch
My walk through the woodland revealed an acorn carrying Jay and no Woodcocks. My walk back to the car added a single Buzzard and flock of a thousand Starlings.
No comments:
Post a Comment