Patch Birding....

A brief visit this morning as I had to take the wife for a run, I'm helping her train for her 1st half marathon in April, then we had to go buy a car..

I didn't arrive until 07:45, even though I'd planned to be there for 07:00 - that's what a bottle of Boreaux the night before does I suppose...

It was bitterly cold of course, the ground frozen solid.  Before I'd even entered the site I had some great views of 3 deer - really need to learn the different species, can't be that hard.  I tried to get some photos but my camera was taking long exposures like it was night time, the light wasn't that great I admit but it wasn't dark? In fact, even when I sorted it out by setting everything manually, images still came out a little fuzzy when zoomed in.

Anyway, the birds...  The Main Pit came into view and was partially frozen so I expect no birds but it was quite the opposite.  A Gadwall pair and Widgeon pair were new for PWC2015 with the following birds counted:

Mallard - 189
Pochard - 4 (3m, 1f)
Widgeon - 2
Eurasian Teal - 60+
Tufted Duck - 24
Little Grebe - 6
Gadwall - 2
Coot - 20
Canada Goose - 29
Grey Heron - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 2

I took a walk over to the Little Owl tree with little hope.  On route I inadvertently flushed 2 x Jack Snipe and saw a pair of Wren flitting about.  Plenty of Red-legged Partridge flushed as usual too.  I got some more great view and some more poor photos of another 2 deer feeding in the long grass.

About 50m short of the Little Owl tree I saw what I thought was a Buzzard perched at the top so I put my scope down to take a look.  I couldn't believe my eyes, a beautiful male Peregrine Falcon, another tick for PWC2015 and for the year list.  I watched him scanning the area for about 10 mins before he flew off and over to Bidford.  I took a couple of photos but none any good, the best I managed was a phone camera to the telescope eyepiece shot...

Peregrine Falcon

I then left and stopped for a quick scan of Pophills Pit which held:

Coot - 20
Black-headed Gull - 16
Mallard - 6
Tufted Duck - 2

I also had a Bullfinch, Reed Bunting and Pied Wagtail in area.  A Buzzard was sat in it's usual spot on the top corner of the disused barn.

There were the usual high number of Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon flying around the area too.

Salford Priors GP - Rain, Rain, Rain

A brief visit to Salford Priors GP this morning as it kept raining, getting wet doesn't bother me but trying to look through rain splattered binoculars and telescope is something my patience will only take for so long.....

I arrived on site about 08:00, parked in the usual spot on the corner and climbing over the earth mound, I could already hear gunshot but couldn't see anybody out shooting in the vicinity, Ragley is quite a large estate with a number of shooting areas from what I can see.

I didn't walk down the narrow path as the ground is covered in low brambles which I kept tripping on during my last visit, I decided to walk along the field margin for a change.  The field contained the usual Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge.  A medium size bird then shot up about 5 meters in front of me, flew low over the scrub and into the wood - gone.... My initial thought was female Merlin, certainly flew like one and was of brownish colouring but it was a fleeting glimpse at best.

I had a quick scan between the blind and hedgerow, always a lot of Pheasant and RL Partridge, there was a good handful of Blackbird and a single Redwing.  A small finch like bird was in the top of the oak tree but I couldn't make it out with the binos, as I got the scope onto it, off it went... a female Yellowhammer.

I had a quick scan of the woodland which contained a small number of Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit and a Green Woodpecker, I decided to put the possible Merlin down to this, about the right size and flew up of the floor...?

I scanned over the Main Pit, nothing out of the ordinary. I counted 67 Mallard, 47 Coot, 22 Tufted Duck, 10 Teal and 4 Little Grebe.  There was a single female Reed Bunting and a Dunnock in full song.  I walked up to the Little Owl tree but he wasn't there, hoping he's still around although the area looks more flattened that last weekend, I wonder if I'm going to be able to get a full year out of this site before it's all crops again...

The skies opened up so I headed back to the car, a Jack Snipe was flushed as I passed the Main Pit.

I stopped at Pophills and had a quick scan, it yielded 16 Coot, 24 Mallard, 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and 27 each of Canada Goose and Greylag Goose.  There were hundreds of Woodpigeon with a lot of Carrion Crow and Jackdaw in tow in the fields to the rear of Pophills, the small trees held 3 Buzzard between them.  I found the Common Sandpiper on the small island/spit again.

So nothing exciting although when I got home I was treated to some cracking views of a beefy male Greenfinch on the sunflower feeder, he looked nice and healthy and is the first in the garden this year and for some time.

The Greenfinch puts me on 101 for January/year list and 47sp for 48 points for PWC2015.

Time to take the wife out for a run now, training her to complete a half marathon, still early days but up to 6 miles today.