Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Thursday 26th November - Lockdown 2

Friday, 27 November 2020

Thursday 26th November - Lockdown 2 - Day 22

The delivery I was waiting for on Tuesday was my new passport - not that I'm going anywhere soon, but my old one expired early next year and thought it was better to replace now than when I really need it. Despite all the warnings of the extra time it was taking due to Covid, the online passport renewal service actually was very prompt and within a week of submitting the application and sending the old passport, I had notification that the new one had been sent by courier. It's taken over a week to get here due to the courier not finding the house !.However, the courier duly arrived late this morning, so at least I was able to go on a walk after signing for it.

I walked through the village towards Lower House Farm. Initially it seemed very quiet in the woods and even when I passed the first crop field, only a handful of Redwings and around 8 Chafinches were present. I descended the lane and then started to rise again and I could hear a few Linnets in a large oak above the lane and c25 flew out across the field. I waited at the top of the lane where you can view 3 fields and there was more activity with a Woodlark that flew around calling then another 2, around 25 Fieldfares were feeding in a Holly and 4 Pied Wagtails alighted along with 5 Meadow Pipits and the first 2 Yellowhammer. The main Linnet flock was feeding in the Kale-strip at the back of the field and largely out of view until they took flight. From the pictures I think c350 birds are present. A single Brambling went up with them. Moving down the lane I had at least 12 Yellowhammer and a flock of 9 Woodlark flew over calling, which is the largest flock I've seen locally. a group of 18 Meadow Pipit landed in one of the horse fields and 4 Mistle Thrush were present with the Redwing and Fieldfare. Seemed an abundance of birds in a small area as everywhere else around here is very quiet.