I was a bit late getting out this morning, so it wasn't until 9am that I stepped out of the car near the Top Plantation at Long Nab. Blackbirds and a few Redwings were obvious along the road and soon I had located a Ring Ouzel. A nice start. As I stood looking into the bushes, I became dimly aware of a call further up the road which sounded familiar, but I couldn't immediately place. However, it was not long before the penny had dropped and I was enjoying some close views of a superb Pallas's Warbler. What a fantastic start to the day. I followed it back along the road and it soon ended up in the plantation. Here there were a few Goldcrests and a few Song Thrushes and Robins. An interesting looking unstreaked Acrocephalus warbler popped up, but it quickly disappeared and despite spending an hour looking for it, I failed to relocate it.
Opting to take a break from looking for the Acro, I headed for the game crop, but there was little of interest here, although a Lapland Bunting was in the stubble. With the winds beginning to subside a little I decided that I would try setting a net in the ringing site. Micky joined me and we spent the rest of the afternoon undertaking a productive ringing session with a northern Treecreeper, Mealy (Common) Redpoll, two Bramblings, two Blackcaps, two Chiffchaffs and a good number of Goldcrests caught. A likely 'tristis' Chiffchaff was present, although we didn't hear it call, whilst another interesting looking Acrocephalus warbler was seen, but it too slipped away before it could be convincingly identified.
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| Pallas's Warbler |
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| Mealy Redpoll |
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| 'Northern' Treecreeper |
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| Arriving yesterday and given recent weather conditions these Greylag Geese were perhaps wild birds rather than the usual feral ones |
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