The very blustery conditions have had a deadening effect on
bird activity, with the few visible birds acting like coastal migrants and flitting
low and surreptitiously between cover. Only the corvids are revelling in this
weather, suddenly bursting into the air and tumbling and swooping en masse in
the air currents. I don’t think it’s
anthropomorphic to imagine these birds doing this out of sheer enjoyment .
Nothing particularly special about although I added Reed
Bunting,
a pair of Treecreepers and a Buzzard (over the garden) to my
year list.
The resurgent floods have
brought in good numbers of gulls, mainly Black-headed but with a few dozen
Herrings, a handful of Lesser Black-backeds and a few Common Gulls. Despite
their name the latter aren’t! (Except for mid-March when birds pass through this
area en route to northern breeding sites). There was also a single Great Black-backed Gull, much the scarcest of the regular species in the village.
Today also saw the first good count of Redwings for a while
with around 200 birds seen. This was in sharp contrast to Fieldfares which barely tallied a
dozen. I assume this reflects the onset of colder weather to the north.
The first flowers are out with Aconites…
Lesser Celandine...
and what I assume are the emergent leaves of Lords & Ladies (Cuckoo Pint) joining the Snowdrops.
With these plants, Song Thrushes singing and woodpeckers
drumming vigorously there is already a hint of the season to come…
Year list to end of January - 69 species
No comments:
Post a Comment