Friday, 12 October 2007

Saturday 6th October 2007

Female Green Woodpecker
I met up with my friend Phil again, but we were unable to go early in the morning so we had to put up with the many people and dogs there. There was still no sign of the Hobby and it has probably moved on.
There were, as usual, plenty corvids including 9 Magpies, 17 Carrion Crows and 4 Jays (sightings going down again).
The gardens produced 2 singing Robins, a Chaffinch (heard), 3 Goldfinch, a female Blackbird; at least one Goldcrest was feeding in the conifers and a Nuthatch (heard).
There was a female Kestrel in the grassland area which I photographed but was abit too quick with my movements and accidentally scared it off, I was used to being able to stride right up to them, but they must be getting used to the threat of humans now.
We got excellent views of a female Green Woodpecker (Pictured), it was the closest I have ever managed to get to one and one of the first times I had used real fieldcraft to get close to the bird, it gave great results too. It was a good day at Nonsuch, not a terrible variety but very enjoyable.



3 New Additions to Nonsuch List- see http://birdsofnonsuch.blogspot.com/

Monday, 1 October 2007

Finally no sign of the Hobby...

On Saturday (29th September 2007) I went back down to Nonsuch because I was dying for a bit of birding. The weather was not great, so I didn't expect the Hobby anyway, they don't hunt in these conditions because there are no aerial insects for it to feed on.
It was an enjoyable day anyway, I thought there was a good chance of green Woodpecker because of the conditions and we ended up seeing a juvenile and a female on the first no dogs area. Ring-necked Parakeets were less active today though very noisy. I noted 3 pairs of Blackbirds which is more than usual. Near the first no dogs area there was a flock of tits passing through, I only really got a view of a Great Tit though there were Blue Tits there too. Several Robins were active too with a total of four seen. Great-spotted Woodpecker was seen in flight and heard making its contact call. 24 Starlings flew over, which is average for Nonsuch. As with the last few weeks Jays were particularly active collecting nuts. 24 Black-headed Gulls were present in Cheam Park with a brief 'from behind' glimpse of a probable Common Gull.
We headed down to the 'Kestrel Area' which is a large patch of rough grassland. and despite not being able to get close to them as before, we saw a record breaking 4 birds there in flight, calling. I heard a Nuthatch in the gardens and 2 Herring Gulls flew over. Other than this there was nothing else of note, still a very interesting and enjoyable day.
Oh yes... the Hobby wasn't there. Either it had moved on or wasn't active due to the weather.