A few hours wandering the Nab this morning was most enjoyable, if lacking in something of quality or a scarcer nature. The wind was still blowing strongly from the NE and there was some light rain falling. On getting out of the car a Crossbill was calling from the pines, but it never gave a nice view to check it closely. A bunch of Redwings dropped out of the sky and a couple of Goldcrests were calling. An encouraging start, but not followed up immediately as my exploration of the first two plantations yielded only a handful of Goldcrests, three Fieldfares and a few more small groups of Redwings arriving from the sea. Down at the ringing site things improved with the discovery of larger numbers of Goldcrests, with at least 22 in a small area of pines and seemingly newly arrived. A couple of Chiffchaffs included a rather 'abietinus' like individual. Yesterday's Great Spotted Woodpecker had been joined by a second bird, whilst a pale looking Treecreeper attracted my interest, but did not linger long enough to pose for pictures.
I was kept informed of the birds I was missing moving offshore as Nick and Micky clocked up Black Guillemot, Leach's Petrel and Red-necked Grebe, the first of which would have been an area tick. Checking field edges and hedgerows was fairly uneventful apart from the odd Song Thrush and Redwing, whilst a walk across the stubble produced a nice encounter with the Lapland Bunting pictured below and a Merlin was seen briefly. The cover crop harboured 10 Reed Buntings, but despite feeling 'rare' it was not going to be my day today. Still, always tomorrow...
 |
| Goldcrest |
 |
| Goldcrest |
 |
Lapland Bunting
|
No comments:
Post a Comment