Anything for the weekend sir?....Lets count birds! 18th and 19th October 2008.
Over the weekend I counted loads of birds. Firstly myself and John did some visual migration at Burrough Hill Country Park on Saturday morning.
Starting at 7.30am we watched this site until just before 10.00am. On the whole we had good numbers of thrushes pass over us, but the jewel in the crown sighting (or more heard only) was a Lapland Bunting heard calling with a small group of Skylarks as it flew over the hill in a north-west direction.
John kept note of the birds which we saw and heard and the totals were:
Redwing: 300, Fieldfare: 195, Chaffinch: 78, Starling: 70, Skylark: 13, Meadow Pipit: 4, Linnet: 4, Siskin: 3, Greenfinch: 2, Song Thrush: 1, "Alba" Wagtail: 1, and the best for last 1 Lapland Bunting! (This was a county tick for me but I won't be adding it to my county list due to only hearing it call).
After dropping off John at home and sorting a few things out at home, I was out again to count ducks down the Soar Valley for the monthly Wildfowl count.
The totals were:
Great Crested Grebe: 24, Little Grebe: 2, Cormorant: 49, Grey Heron: 9, Mute Swan: 26, Canada Goose: 33, Greylag Goose: 85, Greylag Goose (Farm yard type): 13, Wigeon: 303, Gadwall: 95, Teal: 14, Mallard: 112, Shoveler: 39, Pochard: 1, Tufted Duck: 92, Scaup: 1, Moorhen: 20, Coot: 101, Kingfisher: 1, Water Rail: 2, Lapwing: 51, Green Sandpiper: 1, Redshank: 1, Golden Plover: 150+, Curlew: 1 and 1 Gadwall x Mallard hybrid.
The highlight of the count was me finding a female Scaup seen on the water ski pit. Other highlights included good numbers of Wigeon and Shoveler counted at Birstall section.
Starting at 7.30am we watched this site until just before 10.00am. On the whole we had good numbers of thrushes pass over us, but the jewel in the crown sighting (or more heard only) was a Lapland Bunting heard calling with a small group of Skylarks as it flew over the hill in a north-west direction.
John kept note of the birds which we saw and heard and the totals were:
Redwing: 300, Fieldfare: 195, Chaffinch: 78, Starling: 70, Skylark: 13, Meadow Pipit: 4, Linnet: 4, Siskin: 3, Greenfinch: 2, Song Thrush: 1, "Alba" Wagtail: 1, and the best for last 1 Lapland Bunting! (This was a county tick for me but I won't be adding it to my county list due to only hearing it call).
After dropping off John at home and sorting a few things out at home, I was out again to count ducks down the Soar Valley for the monthly Wildfowl count.
The totals were:
Great Crested Grebe: 24, Little Grebe: 2, Cormorant: 49, Grey Heron: 9, Mute Swan: 26, Canada Goose: 33, Greylag Goose: 85, Greylag Goose (Farm yard type): 13, Wigeon: 303, Gadwall: 95, Teal: 14, Mallard: 112, Shoveler: 39, Pochard: 1, Tufted Duck: 92, Scaup: 1, Moorhen: 20, Coot: 101, Kingfisher: 1, Water Rail: 2, Lapwing: 51, Green Sandpiper: 1, Redshank: 1, Golden Plover: 150+, Curlew: 1 and 1 Gadwall x Mallard hybrid.
The highlight of the count was me finding a female Scaup seen on the water ski pit. Other highlights included good numbers of Wigeon and Shoveler counted at Birstall section.
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