My version of the Ridgeway circular
Folly Farm - Three Trees Farm Shop (10:30am - 10:50pm)
As normal we parked the car by the Folly Farm entrance and started to walk down the hill in the direction of the Three Trees Farm Shop at Chiseldon. Straight away I could hear hundreds of Starlings chattering away to our left. In the copse across the field there were a lot of them, but just how many we weren't to find out until we got back to the car. On the way down to the Ridgeway Road there male Chaffinches singing away and also Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers. Above the fields 3 Skylarks were chasing each other across the field before one gained altitude and started singing. I'm guessing to show his dominance and to say this is my patch.
Just before the Marlborough Road there were a few Blue Tits, House Sparrows and a Pied Wagtail in the farm.
Three Trees Farm Shop - Chiseldon Firs (10:50pm - 11:35pm)
The small wood west of Folly Farm. Full of Starlings chattering
Male Chaffinch
Corn Bunting
Corn Bunting
Just before the Marlborough Road there were a few Blue Tits, House Sparrows and a Pied Wagtail in the farm.
Male House Sparrow
And his mate
Three Trees Farm Shop - Chiseldon Firs (10:50pm - 11:35pm)
The Three Trees Farm Shop and Cafe is having an extension put on. Some good news for once on a small business doing well. Along the track to the Firs there were Yellowhammers, Corn Buntings, Chaffinches, more Skylarks, a Buzzard, Song Thrush and in the first copse in the middle of the field there were at least 3, possibly 4 Roe Deer.
To the west of the Old Railway Track, Roe Deer in the woods
Roe Deer
Two and a half Roe Deer
Corn Bunting
Looking back towards Chiseldon from The Firs
Chiseldon Firs to the Ridgeway via Lower Upham Farm (11:35pm - 12:05pm)
For once the Marlborough road wasn't too busy and once across it was up the single track road to Lower Upham Farm. A Lesser Black-backed Gull circled overhead and in the fields to the north of Lower Upham Farm there was a tractor ploughing, with a good dozen or so gulls feeding behind it.
Dawn, Benji, a saggy windsock and a long haul up to the Ridgeway
A very distant shot of 3 Roe Deer
Nearly at the Farm
Snowdrops on the roadside
Up to the Ridgeway I recorded Skylark singing, 3 Corn Buntings and the beginnings of a Rookery close to the Farm. There was also a Red-legged Partridge charging across the field and as I took a couple of shots, I realised when I got home, that I had also photographed a possible Skylark.
Possibly a Skylark
Red-legged Partridge
Yellowhammer
Yellowhammer
Which way Benji!!
The Ridgeway - Folly Farm (12:05pm - 12:45pm)
There were even more Skylarks along here and small flocks of Linnets passed us by as well as Goldfinches. A small flock of 90+ Starling passed below us and as I watched them I realised I was looking down on a Kestrel hovering. Not something that happens everyday.
Old Town
Old Town and Folly Farm in foreground
Kestrel in hover-mode
Kestrel
Kestrel
A bit of uplift
Once we dropped down to the copse just east of Folly Farm I realised that there was a great deal of activity in the fields close to where we had parked the car. There were a dozen or so Fieldfare, several Redwing, 100+ Linnet and hundreds of Starlings, possibly 700+, could even been more. The place was alive.
Male Chaffinch
Just a small section of the huge flock of Starlings
Mammals Recorded: Also 7 Roe Deer