Wall Wood, Hatfield Forest

Took a walk round Wall Wood this morning. I regularly go here not because its particularly good, but its a convenient size so you can compare repeat visits, and regular has Fallow Deer. Today was more complicated because there is quite a lot of tree-felling going on so you need to keep an eye where you are putting your feet. I failed to do this and ended up going flat on my front. Fortunately I had my camera and telephoto lens round my neck to take the impact.

Mainly the usual Wall Wood stuff. From the entrance a distant Red Kite, once inside Treecreeper, Nuthatch, two Marsh Tits, Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Great-Spotted Woodpecker, about 20 young/female deer, and the usual glimpses of things that might have been. The most notable sighting was a couple of Redpoll sp. my first for the wood. I saw them and immediately though they looked a bit big and well-marked, possibly Mealies, but they were against the light, then in the tops of some trees. Anyway here's a photo, much expanded and lightened, of a might-have been.

Sawbridgeworth to Old Harlow walk 18th

added Stonechat to the year list with 2 males and a female at Rowneybury opposite Old Harlow Meads. Probably 2 Barn Owls over the meads showing well for half an hour down to 10 years or so at the closest. Quite acceptable.

Some wildfowl on SLRS included 2 male Shoveler, several Gadwall and Teal.

Otherwise quite quiet.

It's an ill wind ...

Avoided the horrendous snarl up in Sawbridgeworth this morning by detouring round the back ... and got Grey Partridge in the field south of Blounts Farm.

A walk round a water-logged patch this morning. The field between the horse field and the osier bed below Pishiobury Park is flooded. Through the hedgerow bordering the field I managed to spot 4 Wigeon, 2 Shoveler, low tens of Teal and Gadwall, 2 Mute Swan and a Little Egret.

List updated and now on 73.

Rickling Green to Rickling Church

Saturday 21/1/2017
In fields both sides of road
Fieldfare 50+ Lapwing 30+ Golden Plover 20+

Sawbridgeworth 18th Jan

A morning walk round the patch. Write up with "atmospheric" photos here.

Patch record number of Cormorants.

Of note:
Little Owl - 1 in same field as last year.
Meadow Pipit - 1 in usual rough field.
Cormorant. a max of 13. A record number for the patch. Not good as the patch cannot support this number. They were flying around a lot - I assume the more regular places are frozen over.
Great spotted Woodpecker drumming!

pm - a Little Egret in the stream by Southbrook. It fished away quite happily despite my standing only twenty yards away.

Garden in the snow

Friday 13/1/2017
Eighteen species of birds visited the garden on Friday in the snow
Starling - Fieldfare - Chaffinch - Blackbird - House Sparrow - Goldfinch
Robin - Wood Pigeon - Bullfinch - Dunnock - Collared dove - Coal Tit
Blue Tit - Long-tailed tit - Magpie - Feral Pigeon - Great tit - Wren

2000 Woodpigeons.

There's always something to see on the Patch, even when there's nothing to see. Today it was a sky filled with Wood Pigeons. I didn't see what put them up. There was some shooting in the area, so may have been that.

Counting was hard, but by the old technique of counting ten in singles, counting a hundred in tens, then counting hundreds, I got to 2000.

Here's a couple of pictures. I think the first has 800 in - this wasn't the only flock in the air - and the next shows some of the birds in the trees.

Flock of about 800 Wood Pigeons

Wood Pigeons in tree tops behind Pishiobury House

Other birds seen included several Yellowhammers, a few Meadow Pipits, a Reed Bunting, and a couple of Little Grebes on the river below Feakes Lock.