It was a top up day at Rawcliffe today, filling the Niger feeders which swayed about in the stiff breeze, the level of seed down a little and with just a couple of Goldfinch and a single Redpoll again, probably not worth netting just yet. There's a large flock of approximately 140 Chaffinch and 10/15 Yellowhammers knocking about the farm, some of which visit the shooter’s feed bins and my feeders in an irregular manner when they are disturbed by passing vehicles from the maize stubble.
A walk across the moss showed a good selection of species to be around. The noise from several hundred jackdaws and other corvids made me look over towards Pilling Moss where I spotted the Hen Harrier heading north towards Skitham Lane. This harrier hasn’t ventured far during the 4 or so months it has been around since I first noted it on 26th October 2011, it just seems to carry out circuits of the moss bounded by roads north, south, east and west. After seeing the bird dozens of times throughout the winter I still haven’t got a decent photo, and it’s no coincidence, the bird is just good at avoiding the human race.
Over towards the west along a field boundary I could see a 90 strong flock of Corn Buntings, 75 or so Linnets and 145 Lapwings. These Corn Buntings plus many others seem to have arrived recently in the mild Fylde as a result of snow and ice elsewhere, but it would be wrong to assume they are all local birds, so scarce are Corn Buntings at most times, with one or two pairs only breeding on this particular farm. Within a week or two we should hear the "jangling keys" of the Corn Bunting. Click the "xeno-canto" button to hear the song.
I spent some time looking across the fields waiting for the harrier to reappear, but it didn’t and in its place I saw 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Grey Partridge, 3 Buzzard, 8 Stock Dove and 2 Skylark.
I stopped again further south to count birds on the winter feed track and beyond: 140 Tree Sparrow, 9 Reed Bunting, 3 Yellowhammer, 10 Skylark, 15 Chaffinch and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker on the peanut feeder.
.jpg)
