I’m Late, Start Without Me

This is Sunday’s post, and like all posts occasionally do, it’s running a little later than it should, but hey it’s only bird news with pictures of our feathered friends, not life or death. 

Sunday was a fine old morning, cold with a slight frost, but clear and bright so an opportunity to see what might be occurring out on Rawcliffe Moss while checking the feeders. The Kestrel made me late, watching the stubble fields from a roadside pole then venturing off for a hover, a fly around and then a return to any one of a long line of poles, usually one out of camera range so as to frustrate my photographic efforts. This first year bird was one of three Kestrels seen during the morning, one on the moss and two at Stalmine/Pilling Moss later. 

Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

The feeders were still quite full, not unexpected since most of the autumn Goldfinch have gone south to warmer climes, with a count of just 6 this morning. Better counts of though with 35ish Tree Sparrow and more than 40 Chaffinch, the sparrows congregated around the wildfowler’s pheasant feeders, the Chaffinches distributed more widely. A good number of Reed Buntings too, with 20+ scattered along hedgerows north, south and east. I got a couple of Reed Bunting photos today, along with a Wren, a species which always eludes me as a photographer but not as a bird ringer when they turn up in a mist net at the most undesirable times, usually dawn and dusk. Bird ringers often call Wrens “trogs” from its Latin name Troglodytes troglodytes, but they have other less complementary names for the species too. 

Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

 Chaffinch

 Tree Sparrow

Two Yellowhammers in the area of the shooter’s feeders today, another species which is extremely shy of being photographed at close quarters. It’s a brightly coloured bunting which is well able to melt away in the dappled light of a sunny hedgerow. The best I could achieve today, both cropped and un-cropped to show how an apparently obvious yellow Yellowhammer can be overlooked. 

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer

Other birds out on the moss: 6 Snipe, 25 Fieldfare, 1 Mistle Thrush, 8 Redwing, 2 Buzzard, 2 Jay, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker. On the way home via Pilling and Stalmine mosses I saw the aforementioned Kestrels,a Short-eared Owl, and on yet another wet stubble field, 70 Whooper Swans. 

This week Another Bird Blog is linking with Anni who'd rather be birding anytime, and also with Stewart an ex-pat who lives in Australia - Stewart. 

More news this week, so don’t be late for Another Bird Blog.