Bank Holiday Walk

Just me and my not so mini me on Monday, we headed out early to Churwell for a walk in the woods. First though a little detour over the motorway bridge to make the walk a little longer. It takes us just off the patch and i've only done it once before, maybe about two years ago.

The path leads along a track by a farm which brought Goldfinch, Dunnock, Swallows and a possible Linnet but it was gone too quick for me to be 100% sure. 

We also saw quite a bit of Cuckoo Spit from the Froghopper on various plants with lots of it on the Cow Parsley.

At the bottom of the track there is the option of going back under the motorway and into Churwell Woods but we headed left and followed a path down the side of a field. Right away I heard birdsong high above us - Skylark! We saw 3 or 4 of them as we walked and you can just about hear them on this video, mostly you can see flies and my shaky camera work but listen it's a beautiful sound. 

At the end it caught the sound of another bird, a Pheasant, we didn't see it as the field is quite high with grasses. The path itself is a little overgrown with Hawthorn and Cow Parsley but it was gorgeous.

Again the path lead to a track beside a farm and then down under a bridge and out onto a main road. That was as far as we went before turning back. Another path leads off across the fields, i'm not sure where that leads so we only explored a little way and discovered Lapwing there, fantastic to have Skylarks and Lapwing in walking distance from home! In the trees were Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Great Tits, Woodpigeons and overhead a few Swifts too. 

Lapwing

Bullfinch

Skylark

I'm really pleased we took the detour it was a nice walk and it'll be interesting to see what else I can find there. So back to the motorway and underneath it to get into Churwell Woods and back on the patch!

The Pit Hills are looking a bit better after last years fire

The woods are quite lush and green now and there were lots of flowers too. As we set off along the path into the woods I could still hear a Skylark, it didn't even register at first because we'd been hearing them for the past hour or so but we were back on the patch now! I stopped to look and saw one hovering just over the edge of the pit hills almost over our heads! A fantastic patch tick and one I hadn't even thought would be a possibility previously. I don't always walk down this far when I call into the woods before work due to lack of time but maybe I should!

Blackbird

Tadpoles

First Sparrow fledgling seen this year

My daughter spotted a couple of Thrush in the trees which looked like they had been bathing in the stream.

Squirrel

It was a beautiful morning and I ended up with 17 species through the woods plus the Swallow, Bullfinch, Lapwing, Pheasant and Dunnock seen on the little off patch walk too.

This Collared Dove was guarding the entrance to the woods!

Walking back towards the town centre and home we passed through the park and saw this Magpie taking off

A Snow Day........and another......and another.........

The so called 'Beast from the east' hit us on overnight Tuesday and caused one or two problems to say the least.

We had snow by Wednesday morning and I walked to work in a blizzard, managing to spot a flock of around 35 Lapwing's flying overhead - a new patch tick. A small flock of Redwings were hiding under a bush in the park, they were actually 'chirping' the sound drawing me off my usual path, they were hopping in and out of the bush before a passer by spooked them, I only managed a quick photo but they looked beautiful against the snow.

Redwing

Crocus  

No stay at home snow day for me though this week - that's what happens when you live in walking distance to work! Each morning i've been out at dawn clearing snow off the feeders and topping them up, with the Blackbirds and Robins waiting in the trees. I cleared and defrosted the bird bath too, though it didn't stay unfrozen for long.

Thursday morning brought a lot more snow and a Mistle Thrush appeared in the garden, muscling the Blackbird and Robin off the feed tray. The first one in years. My husband and daughter were home so I asked them to be on Thrush watch and to try and keep the bird bath defrosted. My husband sent me a picture of a Fieldfare that had been at the feeder - a garden first and I missed it. I saw many many photos of Fieldfare in people's gardens the past few days, a joy to see but not great they were finding it so difficult to eat.

Mistle Thrush

The Blackbird sunk a little!

Mistle Thrush

House Sparrows 

My husbands photo

I can't quite remember the last time I saw icicles like this.

Early this morning I cleaned up the feeders, stocked everything up and put out a few apples, hoping maybe there'd be some Fieldfares still around. The Mistle Thrush was hanging around the garden all day long, a 2nd one joined it briefly. All day long the feeders have been busy with the usual birds - Woodpigeon, Collared Doves, Starlings, Robins, Blackbirds, Great, Blue, Coal, Long-tailed Tits, a Wren, Sparrows, Dunnock and Goldfinch. It was nice just to be able to sit and watch all the activity.

Collared Dove

Mistle Thrush 

Robin 

Goldfinch 

House Sparrow

Blue Tit

Dunnock 

Mid morning I saw a flock of 10 Fieldfare fly over and then hang around in the distant trees by the edge of the park. But they didn't stop in the garden until the very end of the day as it was starting to get dark and a single one landed in the Laburnum for a couple of minutes.

A long post but snow like this is not something that happens here very often these days (global warming..........) so it's big news. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so that could bring an end to the snow (and also brings the end of this post).