Sunday 28th November 2010 - Shenstone

A fairly quiet day around the patch today. The temperature had dropped quite substantially and although it was sunny with clear skies, there was still large areas of ground frost.

In the morning, there were c.40 Linnets and small numbers of Chaffinch and Greenfinch perched in the tree in the middle of Stanklyn Lane beet field. Also, a Common Buzzard was seen over being mobbed by 2 Carrion Crows (MP).

On the afternoon, I started my tour of the patch at Witch Lane where there were now only 10 Lapwings present. Also seen in this area were 6 Skylarks, 7 Long-tailed Tits and a Mistle Thrush.

The only birds of note at the Back Lane/Butts Lane triangle were a Common Buzzard and a single Fieldfare. Heath lane was equally as devoid of birds so it was quickly on to Stanklyn Lane beet field. As well as the c.40 Linnets that were still present, I also had 23 Skylarks and c.40 Starlings (which were looking rather resplendent perched out in the afternoon sun - see photo below).

My final stop of the day was Stanklyn Lane paddocks where a Green Woodpecker and a Buzzard were present. The small field adjacent to the public footpath (opposite junction with Heath Lane) contained 17 Meadow Pipits and a further 20 Linnets. Whilst scanning this area I had a flock of 32 Golden Plover fly over heading West. Interestingly enough fellow local patch birder Craig Round had, presumably, the same flock fly over his patch (Lutley) heading SW only a matter of 10-15 minutes before. Lutley is about 12 miles away from my patch and this is an interesting correlation between the 2 sites. For more information/sighting details for Lutley check out Craig's blog at the following Link: http://lutleybirder.blogspot.com/

Starling - 28th November 2010:

2 comments:

  1. Another good batch of sightings Jase. I already follow Craigs blog :-)

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  2. Good man Warren...us local patch bloggers should stick together!

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