First thing yesterday morning you could have been forgiven for thinking it was Autumn. As I went from Hanging Houghton down to the Brampton Valley Way the mist was hanging in the valley with just the tops of the trees visible. It really did look like a typical Autumn scene. By the time I reached Blueberry area the mist had disappeared leaving blue skies and sunshine. I was very surprised to see 4 Short Eared Owls flying around as I thought that they had moved on due to the fields now being so waterlogged. My birding was limited yesterday as I was at an agility competition with Jaeger and Rouzel who were enjoyed themselves as well as being successful. But 3 Short Eared Owls were seen there by others in the evening.
Today I took the same route for my first dog walk of the day and it really felt like deja vue as again there were 4 Short Eared Owls at Blueberry. My list of jobs today included topping up the various feeding stations. I started at Harrington Airfield and I hadn't even got out of the car before a couple of Robins and Blue Tits arrived and demanded to be fed. Even the Pheasants are joining in. I walked slowly through the bushes with the dogs and walking parallel with us on our left were 3 Pheasants. Every time I stopped they also stopped. It was all rather bizarre and reminded me of the time, many years ago, when we were in New Zealand on a guided walk to find Kiwi which were radio tagged. As we walked our guide picked up the radio tagged Kiwi and monitored it as it walked parallel with us and when we stopped it came extremely close to us. I can remember thinking "what am I going to do if it walks into us" . It was dark and I thought that I must not scream. Needless to say the Kiwi didn't walk into us but it was very close. An amazing experience. My Pheasant encounter this afternoon was certainly not on that level!!. As I entered the first ride from the bottom the 3 Pheasants popped out into the ride at the top. They certainly were not worried by the dogs and vice versa. The airfield was extremely quiet. I did sit in the warm sunshine for a while and watch the world go by which consisted of numerous Red Kites calling and tumbling about in the breeze and a couple of Ravens doing exactly the same. Next stop was the wilderness on the Kelmarsh Estate. I could hear quite a few Siskins calling as I approached the feeders. I had barely topped up the feeders before the birds were on them. Scotland Wood was the final destination and when I parked I was met by an army of Great Tits!!! There were at least 10 Great Tits waiting by the gate along with a Marsh Tit and several Blue Tits. They were very vocal and you imagine them scolding me for being late with their food. I lost count how many Blue and Great Tits were around the feeders, they were everywhere!! I decided to walk back to Blueberry this evening. There was an amazing deep red sunset sky. 3 Short Eared Owls eventually showed themselves but it was 17.35hrs and the light was poor. I couldn't stay any longer as I still had to walk back to the car and as it was the last stretch back was done by the light of the moon and stars. The 2 Green Sandpipers are still below Hanging Houghton and these birds were flying around in the darkness calling.
A couple of things of interest. Firstly a ringing session at Sunderland Wood by Lewis Aaron produced 42 birds, mostly Tits, 17 Bluetits, 14 Great Tits, 2 Coal and 2 Marsh Tits, 2 Dunnocks and 2 Nuthatches. Secondly there is a huge Starling murmuration at Crick. I haven't seen it myself but it sounds amazing with 100,000 birds being estimated. Peak time is 16.30- 17.30hrs and best viewed from Church Street, Main Street or Bucknills Lane area.
Regards Eleanor
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| Marsh Tits. |
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| Nuthatches. All courtesy of Lewis Aaron and taken at Sunderland Wood, Kelmarsh. |
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