Serin,Isla's middle name...

Serin,Isla's middle name...

Thursday 23 February 2012

What a day

Spent virtually the whole day at Broadfield Farm today,met some new people in my role of Wildlife Liason officer (voluntary).Also met some more birders who are now visiting the site and today would not dissapoint them although not too sure if they quite saw what i did,but i was there for 10 hours!!!
I arrived around 7.30 to find the gates still locked,not a problem,theres lots to do and see around the entrance,Blue,Great & Long Tailed Tits,along with Greenfinch,chaffinch and Goldfinch.The Golf Course Mallards & Canada geese were arriving but i was still asleep so i didn't get any pictures






Once in the site i decided to walk around the woodlands,what a start,had 5 Bullfinch within a few minutes,four males and a female,i watched them for a while before heading further south to look for the Siskins & Redpolls.I came across the odd Redpoll and a fairly large group of Siskins,other birds of note was a lovely Female Sparrowhawk which was just a bit quick for me to get my camera on it.While looking at the Siskins a Male & Female Bullfinch started feeding at the top,don't think they were part of the 5 as i would of seen them coming down the path but who knows.I went back after a while for my customary Pot of tea and cookie,with a Bacon sarnie thrown in for good measure and was then introduced to more of the locals,some who i have met before on my travels.
After brunch i visited the scrape where i spooked a redshank,that never returned and also had a Snipe,the first for a few days.I got photos but they are not very good owing to the fact the snipe was pretty hard to see.
I then went back to the centre to have a nose around and to put some work in my diary.By now it was 1pm so i went back for another ramble around the woodland,while there i observed a raptor,way up,had my bins on it,looked good for a peregrine,i saw another couple looking at it,they thought it was a Kestrel until a Kestrel mobbed it and it was a fraction of the size,although a Buzzard came into view which was that little bit bigger than both,its my first Peregrine on the site and my bird of the day,just!! (heres some distant photos)

More than happy with the days birding,i continued round the site with Woodpeckers,jays and your usual stuff all making the odd appearance,only managed one shot of a woodpecker as every time one went past me i was on the phone,will try to rectify this tomorrow!!!



By now the light was fading,the Skylarks were still singing but it wasn't too clever for photography,i did however have one last bird which i enjoyed but it has somewhat stumped me as to what it was,it was way up high and on first impressions i just thought buzzard but after looking at my rubbish photos i think it may actually be Marsh Harrier,it was so distant though i was just guessing with the original diagnosis,what do you think???
I tell you what i think,i think i should stick to taking photos on the ground at subjects in the trees rather than stuff half a mile up in the air,lets see what tomorrow brings!!! Treecreeper & Nuthatch in the woods would be nice although not sure they are mature enough yet,maybe in another 20 years,or 5 if we are lucky!!!

3 comments:

  1. Great blog Robert, looking forward to following, Peregrines are always a good shout for bird of the day! cheers Andy http://awbirder.blogspot.com

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  2. cheers mate,was a bit of a surprise seeing the peregrine but they are in the area,will follow you mate

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