Thursday, 11 October 2012

Easy does it.....

Eased into my two week holiday today by cleaning my car for the first time ever! I think it has mice living inside it! Oh well at least it will be clean enough for Uncle Albert tomorrow on our voyage south...

Had a nice walk round the dog-walk patch this morning, there was a massive increase in Blackbird today, with several flocks of 6-8 birds seen in the various bits of hedgerow. Came across a small Long-tailed Tit flock that contained one Chiffchaff and three Goldcrest.

Had a bit of a stand-off with the local hunt and their pack of Hounds! A couple of barks from David and they all ran off! A single Golden Plover flew up (after being flushed by the hounds) and a raucous call alerted me to a 'patch tick' in the form of a single Jay. So close to the garden!! Next time!

I popped into North Duffield Carrs for the late afternoon/early evening however the light was abysmal! No sign of the Short-eared Owl but a minimum of 5 Marsh Harriers roosted. The highlight here however was a single Grey Plover that flew through calling. It possibly dropped down near Bubwith Bridge so may be worth looking for tomorrow? Plenty of Lapwing again with a couple of distant Redshank, Dunlin and between 1 and 3 Curlew. The Grey Plover was a patch tick. There seems to have been a decent number this autumn, I had one that was seen by a number of people at Bank Island several weeks ago and Russ had 2 more near Elvington on a flood so there's been at least 4 found. Shame it wasn't something rarer but can't complain!

One of the Marsh Harriers came close enough to phone-scope though as the light was so appalling they're not great. Was good to catch up with Tim (who's now set up my camera so I hope to be able to get some decent shots whilst on the Scillies - thanks!) and Nige too.

Marsh Harrier (phone-scoped) 

Marsh Harrier (phone-scoped)  

Marsh Harrier (phone-scoped) 

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