Sunday 23 September 2012

Finch fest

Robins and Redpolls were most obvious on my Saturday morning count with 15 or more singing Robins and a flock of 30+ Redpolls active around the small pines at the peat diggings. Also nearby 50-100 Goldfinch fed on thistle heads whilst smaller numbers of Siskin (6), Greenfinch (4), Bullfinch (6) and Chaffinch (5) also flew overhead or were feeding in the hedgerows. Unusually I couldn't find any Linnets but the range was active preventing me from getting to their favoured bushes.
The Redpoll flock was flighty though and offered up limited opportunities for photos, in fact the birds are so small and adept at hiding I often walked past them before they flushed from the hawthorn.
The fine weather has meant the crops have largely been gathered and stubble is being ploughed back in with what I often think is undue haste. This of course offers up a temporary bounty for gulls and the occasional Heron......
but the Sparrow and Starling flocks at Prestwick Mill were making best use of the remaining stubble before it got turned in although to be fair to most of the local farmers there still seems to be some reasonably sized headlands being left for the wildlife.

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