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Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Buntings, Crows and Thrushes

The last time myself, Dawn, don and Benji did this walk was back in September, so we thought we'd give it another go. As before we started our 4-mile circular walk from Oxford Street and down into the village before we heading up past the village green onto Crooked Corner and down Grasshill to Lottage Road. Through the village there were Mistle Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Blackbird. At Grasshill a Brambling landed in a Beech Tree.

Our 4 mile circular
(map courtesy of Google Earth)

Crooked Corner and Grasshill run parallel to Lottage Road and is more or less an an access road to the homes backing onto it. Along its length there were quite a few Robins, Blackbirds, Great Tit, Blue Tits, House Sparrows, Dunnocks and a few Redwings.

Redwing and Blackbird

At the end you cross over Cook Road and onto the start of the Gallop. On your left and right are fields and the track takes you down to Lottage Road. Along this length were more Redwing and as we approached the paddocks there were also good numbers of Fieldfare and Corn Bunting.

Corn Bunting

Crossing over Lottage Road we headed up the Gallop and as we crossed over, there were dozens of Fieldfare and Redwings sitting in the tree tops and on the telegraph wires there were Corn Buntings and Starlings. About 100 metres up the Gallop we turned right and headed towards east Lease Farm.

Fieldfare

Starling

The track up to the cottages is about 1½ miles and runs along a ridge on your right. To the left are fields, which had been harvested, ploughed, seeded and now had 3in shoots poking through.  Along the track we could see a distant Red Kite, too far away for a photo but further along we came across dozens of Rooks and Jackdaws feeding on old stubble.

Rooks and Jackdaws

Rooks

Along the track the bushes eventually give way to a newly installed wired fence and in the distance we could make out East Lease Farm and more corvids flying about.

Rooks and Jackdaws

Close to East Leaze Cottage was a Yellowhammer and a few Chaffinches.

All in all another good walk with 29 bird species seen. Red Kite, Pheasant, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, Brambling, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.