Three days of solid drinking and eating has made me a little slow ! - but a lovely time with friends and family. Sal was back to work this morning, so before the girls had surfaced and after I'd let the ducks and chickens out, I had a wander around the garden, wood and paddock. The wooded gully at this time of year is much more visible with all the trees naked so you can see down to the stream more clearly, it is normally a very small trickle that swells a little to stream size after a downpour, slightly surprising to find
12 Mallard dabbling away - a new bird for the house list. The feeders had been busy this morning with plenty of
Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and the male
Bullfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and
Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Starlings, Stock Dove and
Woodpigeon. Further along the path (there's a fallen tree I will have to get rid of) the Alders were still alive with
Siskin and
Goldfinches. Both
Green and
Great Spotted Woodpeckers made an appearance then as I approached the bottom fence the biggest surprise as I flushed a
Woodcock from an open patch of damp leaves. It shot off and away but a great bird to record at home. A small number of
Redwing were in the woods (vastly reduced from the large flock in early November). The last surprise of the morning were later on when I was outside with Hannah and
8 Crossbills flew over calling, I actually saw them this time having previously only had a couple of heard only birds I couldn't locate.
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| The bird I flushed was too quick for a picture . |
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| Siskin in Alders |
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