Another free outer clothing laundry on
offer at Ogden this aft.
Leaving home I was greeted with a great commotion
from the Carrion Crows nesting in the large ash tree opposite our house – the reason
–a common
buzzard had landed in the tree. It was soon mobbed by the crows and it left before I could get the camera on it. As it turned out this was to be the
highlight of the afternoon.
From Ogden Water I took the b/w towards Withins for
a change and left it via a small stile, after the last of the pine trees, on
the right. On the way to the stile a Skylark over the golf course, LBB gull flew over and Great Tits were foraging
for grubs. Over the stile the path goes parallel with the b/w for a while – a ‘white
rumped’ deer saw me and made a fast get away (2nd deer I’ve seen in
two days). Birds were in short supply because of the constant very heavy
drizzle. At least Chaffinch and Coal Tit were seen.
Then in the lower branches of a small bush I got a
fleeting glance of a possible Redstart. It disappeared as soon as I saw it and
after ½ hr hunt I gave up( I can't really call it a sighting though).
I’m
not sure how significant a redstart sighting at Ogden is , or whether the bird it
is likely to stay put. However for anyone interested, if you find the red &
white marker post number “G6” and with this post on your left head back towards the golf course ( retracing your steps) for about 100 yards. The marker
post (G6) is at the end of the path I was on at the time of the sighting ,where
the path drops dramatically down towards the stream that comes in from the
north end of Ogden water.
There was some bird song and a Dunnock & Wren
piped up but after an hour feeling like “Johnny no mates “ I headed back to the
car after raiding the rucksack for a slice of drizzle cake ( a choc bar really).
At least a Male Bullfinch had the decency to bid
me farewell from the car park.
(The water held 5 Canada goslings and not much
more).
Oh the joy of birding.
The drive past the Raggalds saw the flood with some damp mud nothing more.
Some pics based on Jim Bowen's Bullseye “Look what
you could have won!”
xx
Just my opinion but nowadays I would be happier to get an Ogden Redstart rather than Buzzard. I managed just one last year, in August.
ReplyDeleteA good start with the Buzzard and nice find if it was a Redstart, the area is right so its quite likely. Once common at Ogden and now a rare find.
ReplyDeleteWell done for getting out in the conditions.
Can't check out the Redstart for a while - grandaughter for a few days from tomorrow. But i'll take another look asap and maybe it will be still around.
ReplyDeleteJohn.