Sunday 12 October 2008

Sylvia's Cover

Dan:

Thought I'd make the most of the still conditions this morning and do a spot of Aldcliffe 'vis' ... almost all birds were heading south or south-east

0730-0900
Raven - 1E (though probably a local).
Chaffinch- 16.
Linnet- 4.
Alba wagtail- 32.
Meadow pipit- 34.
Goldfinch- 9.
Song thrush- 3.
Greenfinch- 29.
Coal tit- 3.
House sparrow- 3.
Siskin- 3.
Grey wagtail- 3.
Snipe- 6.
Starling- one flock of 80.
Golden plover- 123.
Skylark- 20.
Redpoll sp.-3.
Reed bunting- 1.
Smaller (silent!) finch sp. -flock of 17.
As I began working Freeman's Wood I could hear more skylarks, meadow pipits and alba wags heading over , until fog stopped the vis trickle at about 0930.
The FW bush-bashing was fairly productive with a shy garden warbler, 3-4 male blackcaps, 15 or so goldcrests, 9 coal tits and c.40 song thrushes.
Seems to have been an influx of robins with around 25 in the wood. I could only find one chiffchaff, but another was just out of area halfway down Willow Lane.
At 1100 43 pink-footed geese headed S as the fog began to dissipate- a welcome change to all the feral honkers that seem to dominate the area at the moment!
Before a family exercised their dogs in Freeman's Pools 2 pochards had added to the duck numbers.
A green sandpiper was vocal and mobile in the north of the parish.

Jon: Following my return from 2 weeks out of the parish (birding in the Western & Northern Cape = approx 180 new birds), I had a lazy amble with Jenny this afternoon (that's not a euphemism, but a description of our walk) but it was unsurprisingly devoid of notable birdlife.
We did bump into Dusty (long time, no see) who reported 3 buzzards and a little egret.
The pochard pair were on Freeman's Pools along with a drake tufted, 21 coot & a little grebe. Nice to be back... cheers, as always, to Dan for keeping things interesting here.

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