At the bottom of Witch Lane on the hedgerow just past the old grain store was a flock of 30 Yellowhammers. This was really heartening to see as it is the biggest Yellowhammer flock I've recorded on the patch and to be honest its been best part of 10 years since I've seen a flock of more than 20+ Yellowhammer in Worcestershire. Also along Witch Lane were c.300 Wood Pigeons and 5 Stock Doves.
On arriving at Stanklyn Lane I walked the edge of the privately owned Stanklyn Wood...Its a shame I cant get in there but at least this time of year you can see into the woods fairly easily. Here I had 8 Siskin feeding in the tops of one of the Alders. A Common Buzzard was also present in the wood. In the field opposite was a Raven which was kronking away whilst being sat on a fence post (an ideal photo opportunity) and guess what, by the time I was about to take the shot it flew off being mobbed by a Carrion Crow!
Prior to visiting my patch I had undertaken a gull watch at Hartlebury landfill. There were c.180 Black-headed Gulls, c.80 Lesser Black-backed gulls and c.30 Herring Gulls sat in the nearby field. With them was an adult Yellow-legged Gull and an adult Great Black-backed Gull, which looked huge next to the Lesser Black-backs. After a while they were all put up by a ♀ Sparrowhawk, with only about half the birds returning to the field and the others heading back to the tip.
Great Black-backed Gull - Hartlebury, 3rd Jan 2011:
Its good to see you have a half decent Yellowhammer flock Jase. About 30 were on my patch recently, no more than that though.
ReplyDeleteYeah its the biggest flock Ive recorded on the patch so it was great to see
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