A couple of days ago I decided to see if I could find the
Corn Buntings that had been reported as showing well about ten miles from my house. I arrived at
the location, a small car park, around
mid morning. The weather was quite windy and overcast with just a few brief glimpses of
the sun (so what's new!!).
I positioned the car so that I had a good view over the car
park and almost immediately I saw that a few birds, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch,
Meadow Pipit and Linnet were coming down
to bathe in the puddles left by the recent rain. Unfortunately they were frequently spooked
by walkers crossing the car park and also by other cars arriving and leaving making photography rather difficult!
 |
| Linnet |
 |
| Yellowhammer |
It wasn't long before I heard the "little bit of bread
and no cheeeese" song of a Yellowhammer coming from the overhead power
lines, closely followed by a singing Corn Bunting (another tick for the list!)
and after a few minutes a Dunnock started to serenade me from the bushes close by.
 |
| Corn Bunting |
 |
| Dunnock |
I also had a fascinating few minutes watching two Magpies
(juveniles, I think!) as they explored, constantly chattering to each other, all around the car park with one spending some time interacting with a
discarded yogurt pot.
So, without leaving the car, I'd had a couple of hours of
good birding and had noted sixteen different species, apart from the above I'd also
seen Jackdaw and Carrion Crows in the adjacent fields, Starling, Goldfinch and Great
Tit in the bushes, a hovering Kestrel, two soaring Buzzards, as well as overflying Woodpigeons and Swifts.
The Videos...
This weekend and next week promises to be warm and sunny
here (Summer at last!!) and I'm looking forwards to getting out and about in
some descend weather for a change. Wherever you are I wish you all a great
weekend and upcoming week.
