Day of the Whoopers / Local Birding Walk

 A strange day weather wise, this morning the sun was trying and mostly failing to show.

The wind picked up this afternoon and when the thick mist rolled in as I approached Soil Hill it turned decidedly chilly.

The grapevine was alive reporting Whooper Swan sightings and I was very fortunate to pick up 2 skeins > W that passed our house, one skein was quite close.

This afternoon I enjoyed a local walk through the fields to Ned Hill Bottom and up Ned Hill.

My arrival at Soil Hill coincided with the arrival of  strong wind and thick mist, spoiling the job a bit.

I did the short route on Soil Hill, up the main track and east across to Percy Rd then down Taylor Lane to home.

Birds:-

Garden Watch:

Whooper Swan.

Two "skeins" oops or perhaps "wedges"?

First at 9:53am with c55 birds.

Second at 9:56am 30 birds.

Bradshaw Fields:

Mistle Thrush, c80 Jackdaw.

2 Little Owl.

Ned Hill Top:

Herring Gulls, very noisy and a few small gulls.

(A real aerial tussle between Gulls themselves and Crows).

A distant Sparrowhawk was being mobbed by Crows over Ogden.

Soil Hill:

2 Skylark, 2 Stock Dove, 4 Meadow Pipit.

Taylor Lane: 

2 Curlew

Bradshaw Lane: 

2 Little Owl (a new location).

Whoopers

Bradshaw Fields Little Owls

Bradshaw Lane Little Owls