Thursday, February 7, 2008 - A Flock of bramblings
There's not been a great deal to report recently. At the weekend I wasn't able to get away for a serious birding session but I did manage to get out to Blenheim Palace for a couple of hours with my son L in tow as usual and also this time my younger daughter B. I was out looking for bramblings and hawfinches and managed to find a nice flock of 20 bramblings showing well and feeding in an avenue of limes. I haven't seen these since my previous birding incarnation as a child so it was great to re-acquaint myself with them. I also saw a GS woodpecker but no sign of the hawfinches. One good thing about this time of year is that there are no leaves on the trees so the birds are much easier to spot. We got to the park tea shop 3 minutes after they closed which was rather annoying so we had to slog back to the Blenheim tea rooms just by the gate for a well-deserved tea and cake. I didn't really scan the lake well for wild fowl but did spot a grey heron, a GC grebe and a gadwall on the lake.
The following day I nipped out for an hour and a half with B but not L to the Dix pit. Unfortunately there was a strong wind blowing and this seemed to have put off many of the birds. There were pintail, shoveler, pochards (but no red-crested ones today - a speciality of the area), tufted ducks, cormorants. Only a modest amount of gulls and no caspians or yellow-legged that I could see. I did see a possible raven (which I need for my year list) but I couldn't be certain.
It feels like things have gone a bit quiet recently on the list front. Perhaps I was spoiled by a good January but I haven't had any lifers for several weeks now. I may see if I can get in a longer trip this coming weekend to twitch something new.
Just two birds to add to my year list. The stonechat I went out especially to find on the local nature reserve.
078 Stonechat
079 Brambling
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About Me
I used to be a birder in my youth but rather lost interest in my teens as other things became more interesting. However recently I've rediscovered this interest and would like to share my sightings and thoughts in this blog.
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