I love these moody November mornings when the ground has swathes of brittle frost and bright thaw. A morning full of potential - and first up was a kestrel, perched in a sunlit oak, scanning the melting grass.200+ fieldfares were roaming around in ever-changing flocks frequently scattering to the empty tree tops. And there were loose flocks of redwings, smaller and more difficult to spot as they burrowed into hawthorns. Several skeins of geese flew across the morning (and some of those skeins looked like they were gulls?).
Healey Lodges were likewise part frozen, part open. This photo is the upper lodge as seen when walking down from Nab Wood. Click on the image to see 50+ black-headed gulls standing on the ice. Mallard, coot and two tufted ducks swam on the melt and a kingfisher whirred over this lodge to the one below.The track between the lodges is lined with birch and hawthorn so I saw a close-up of some redwings, a goldcrest, a flock of long-tailed tits and the kingfisher came rushing through to claim his customary perch.
4 comments:
we've had wonderful frost too this mornign and yesterday. I'm always envious of your fieldfare sightings, we never seem to see that many at all. Loads of redwings though and long tailed tits...
It was beautifully freezing here today, too.
We had some fencing up this week (to stop Tessa Buttons jumping over the garden wall) and the area around the holly bush got a bit disturbed. I was worried the wren and robin who, for the last four years, have shared the bush in winter would find somewhere else. But, no, there they were this morning sitting side by side on the frosted fencing waiting for me to sprinkle breakfast under 'their' bush.
Great photos as usual, Mistlethrush.
Even the name is wonderful: Healey Nab!
CGP - I didn't know we had many fieldfare locally until this winter. That's the advantage of having a local natural history society that puts their sightings online - a brilliant resource.
PP - a wren and robin living in the garden - how charming. Glad you like the photos - and this time they're mine. maybe one day I should get a camera and lens powerful enough to snap birds. But then again would I want to carry it around?
DK - yes I love that name too. A northern ring to it don't you think?
Thanks for your comments everyone.
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