Monthly Archives: February 2014
Stonechat
Curlews
Two (at least) curlews were circling this morning over the Flora west field: with luck they were eying up the new pond and scrape in the middle. Even the sound of chainsaws from the hedge working party didn’t send them away for long. Maybe they landed for a closer look this afternoon once peace and quiet were restored?
Jay
A jay perched on the Storage building gatepost yesterday morning. I have not seen him/her around for some time.
Big Farmland Bird Count
On Sunday Feb.2nd between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. 3 of us took part in the first Fairfield BFBC. We recorded 22 species including redwing and a solitary snipe!
Mistle Thrush
We have twice recently seen 4 Mistle Thrush feeding in the field opposite the canal ( 7th/8th Feb.)
February Flush Count
The Fauna marshes are wetter than ever, with lots of standing water. Don’t know what snipe feel about this, but this morning’s tally overall was slightly lower than last month. We counted 41 plus one possible jack snipe in School Pond, 28 in Big Meadow, and 2 in the Hay Meadow. In the south west corner of Big Meadow was a flock of about 30 birds on the ground. Unfortunately slightly too far away to distinguish, even with binoculars, whether they were redwings or fieldfares (or perhaps both). My wellies almost disappeared in School Pond. They have now joined the boots still drying in the kitchen after Saturday’s hedge working party. It will be good to get some respite from all this mud!