Check It Out

It was a “Where Do I Go?” this morning with another cold, brisk north westerly wind blowing. So I headed inland for Rawcliffe Moss where although I might be a little windswept I would find some birds. I also planned to check the vegetation in the mist nets rides, mainly the growth of leaf cover that helps to make the nets invisible when we eventually get there on a kind-to-ringers, flat morning.

I was early enough to find a Barn Owl hunting the rough edges and ditch that mark the field boundary, and although the light wasn’t fantastic, I did get a few photographs today, with 3 Roe Deer performing a backdrop.

Barn Owl
Barn Owl
Roe Deer
Top Of The Windy Moss
On top of the blustery moss there weren’t many birds, the corvids in the stubble, a wandering Kestrel, a couple of Lapwing pairs and in the plantation, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Goldfinch, Wren and a couple of Blackbirds, all highly visible in the sparse foliage. The net rides were pretty bare, little ground cover, no leaf on the trees, catkins only with the remains of last autumn’s vegetation available to provide a few hiding spots for the Whitethroats, Willow Warblers and Sedge Warblers that arrive very soon.

What Leaves?
Chaffinch
Reed Bunting
I walked back towards the farm buildings in the course of which I found 3 pairs of Grey Partridge, 4 Curlew, 2 Buzzard, another Kestrel and 1 pair each of Oystercatcher and Lapwing in the field that they both nested in last year.

Buzzard
6Lapwing
Up at the top I hadn’t heard a singing Corn Bunting or Yellowhammer, so I wasn’t surprised when I found a flock of 28 Corn Buntings still hanging about near the farmer’s old spill, likewise the 4 Yellowhammer that came for a look. Neither party was too keen on posing up for me this morning; the blustery wind didn’t help as old buildings, rusted, discarded equipment and abandoned plastic rattled in harmony to spook the birds feeding efforts. The buntings seemed content to sit it out in the hedge until things looked and sounded less dangerous.

Corn Buntings
Corn Bunting
Back home where I complained about the lack of Greenfinch all winter, a pair has almost built a nest in a blowy, thin juniper just two metres from the back door. And I thought birds were clever, but I suppose I have only to look through the kitchen window to check on progress and keep that nest record up to date.

Greenfinch