Walking the path from the causeway to the feeding station was an experience in shiny shoes and smart trousers. I tried but pretty much failed to not get muddy, woops! But it was worth it!
I met up with Dave half way up the old lane beyond the feeding station and walked into the field on the right hand side. Dave had seen it several times in the last 10 minutes. Eventually a gorgeous male Redstart flits into view along the perimeter hedgerow. It was very active and didn't stay still for too long catching flies. Was a real gem of a bird. I would add a photo but it was pretty dam distant and the photos of it I did get were horrific!
Saturday (14.04.12) I had the morning to go looking for stuff. I ummed and ahhed whether to go to Borough Hill, but instead decided to head back to the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker site to have another shot at them early doors. It was dissapointing to find that several Ring Ouzels had been found at Borough Hill that morning, however I was determined to find a Lesser Pecker, a bird I hadn't seen in years.
I arrived around 07:45am. It wasn't looking too promising and after a good hour and a bit patrolling the woods and lingering round the areas they'd been seen, I had absolutely nout to show for it. I thought I'd have one last look in trees on the edge of the wood. To my suprise a rather weak-sounding call gave it away, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, get in!! After 30 seconds or so I managed to find it in the tree tops, it was a female. It showed well but for no more than 15 seconds before flying off deeper into the woods. I attempted to track it but lost it. Would have loved to have had longer views but was dead chuffed to catch up with it.
A brief trip to Summer leys afterwards produced nothing of any note. It was then time to head to cricket training.
After a heavy night on the town and forgetting to set my alarm I failed to join Dave in going to Borough Hill first thing Sunday morning (15.04.12). I was though keen to catch up with some Ring Ouzels. He'd had around 20 in Norfolk Saturday and they appeared to be everywhere in the country, however he hadn't seen any at Borough Hill during his morning visit.
Looking at birdguides I decided to have a bash and seeing some at Aston Rowant NR in Oxfordshire, right next to the M40, right in the middle of the Chilterns. It took about an hour to get there and by 15:00pm I had arrived. It was a gorgeous place, really high up and was right slap bang in the middle of Red Kite country...they were everywhere!
I parked up and headed onto the reserve down to Linkey Down where the Rouzels had been showing. Walking down there I could see several people with scopes and tripods...it was looking promising! I arrived to been told there had been up to 7 showing but they were currently hiding in gorse bushes just below us in the 'combe' or valley below. Sure enough after several minutes a gorgeous male Ring Ouzel showed itself and gradually several more appeared, feeding below and showing really nicely.
While watching one of the Rouzels a bird flew across my scope up onto the fence below. It was a stunning male Redstart, a right good bonus! It showed well, though just like the bird at Pitsford a few days before, it was very very active and didn't stay still for too long. 2 male Wheatears were also in exactly the same area, 1 a big orangey Greenland-type bird, the other a standard Northern Wheatear.
One of the male Ring Ouzels had a blotchey-white patch on his head making him look a little different. They did show great and it was good to get more familiar with their calls. Eventually they were all right out in the open and I managed to count 7 in total, I'm pretty certain there were 3 males and 4 females
I really enjoyed myself to be honest and I had some of the best views of Red Kites too as a further bonus, however my iphone did run out of battery which was a right pain in the arse. This meant while I still managed to get some decent photos, I could have got so many more! Still, once I decided to head home I was feeling bloody chuffed with my afternoons work!
No comments:
Post a Comment