(We spotted a Buzzard above the Salterhebble / Wakefield Road junction early afternoon, today).
I enjoyed a couple of hours birding along Ringby Lane this afternoon.
Quite windy up here with a heavy shower to contend with, early on.
The wind remained but the skies brightened into a decent day.
A real bonus of a Wheatear greeted me after the initial climb up the track past the helicopter house.
The some bird (or not) was seen again, nearby, on my departure 2 hours later.
A Stock Dove was distant, on the track.
The main action was on the massive ploughed field.
It's very brown with bits of white rubbish and small pieces of black plastic bailing bag wafting about in the wind - all needing a squint from the bins!
This, added to the position of the sun and the strong wind made checking out the birds tough on the eyeballs after an hour or so.
I did a rough count of 35 Pied Wagtail so 50 would be a reasonable assumption, given that there will be birds out of sight over the horizon.
Yellow Wagtail did not show up in my bins alas.
The other main species were Goldfinch and Linnet.
Small (15 or so) flocks would appear, airborne from time to time and then a few larger flocks would fly out from the rough ground.
It is difficult to say how many birds were present but between 100 - 120 would seem a conservative estimate, with a 70 / 30 split in favour of Goldfinch.
50+ Black Headed Gull had at least one Common Gull in with them.
Lesser Black Backed Gull and a few Herring Gull were also seen.
A Kestrel was being given the cold shoulder by a Carrion Crow - The Kestrel wasn't impressed by the crows tactics though.
A few Meadow Pipit were flitting about on the soil and also a couple of Dunnock.
Another small all brown bird had me beat.
It was distant on the horizon, and so well camouflaged that although I could pick it out in the bins, I could not locate it in the camera.
The bird ran rather than hopped - which did not help.
First I though Dunnock, then Juv. Dunnock.
Then Linnet, then Juv. Linnet ,but non of them fit the bill.
Twite entered my head next, but with the mystery bird having a fine needle like bill, that did not fit either - very frustrating.
I'll have to settle for Meadow Pipit I think!
30+ Swallow, with some landing on the deck.
A really interesting couple of hours and it's always good to leave with a head scratcher!!
If you've read all this - thanks for you patience.
Is that a Spoon Bill on the wall?
Here comes the Rain
The big ploughed field
Two Tails
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