Looking towards the Ridgeway from Folly Farm
By the time I'd reached Richard, I'd already had a good selection of species with Chiffchaff by the "car park" a Buzzard just beyond Folly Farm and dozens of Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings. It's been awhile since Ive been to Folly Farm and it was quite noticeable that there has been a fair bit of hedge-laying. I'm not opposed to it, but there was a good 200 metre stretch where there used to be good berry bearing Hawthorns and Dog Wood. I guess it will grow back.
Our route took us along the base of Liddington Hill to just below the castle grounds. The idea being we would carry on towards the road and then drop down on the other side of the field and back to the copse.
Along this route were many Chaffinches singing and a few male Blackbirds flitting about, that had our hearts pumping and binoculars raised very quickly. A large flock of Fieldfare passed overhead, with a good 70+ birds, that flew north and then doubled back towards Lower Upham Farm. All around us were birds singing with Great Tits, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Corn Buntings and lots of Yellowhammers. The field to our left had several Rooks in it and as we came up the slope a Buzzard that had probably been feeding on worms suddenly popped his head up, and on seeing us took off towards Folly Farm.
A couple of flaps........
.............and this Buzzard was well on his way after seeing us.
Carrying on up the field we watched a female Blackbird disappear into an ivy clad tree just up in front of us. As it did so a smaller bird flew out and across the field. There I was trying to identify it with my binoculars, when to my amazement a Ring Ouzel was in my field of view, flying straight at us. A beautiful male with that distinct white collar. Having spotted us it flew over the hedgerow to our right and landed in a solitary Hawthorn Tree on the slope. Unfortunately it was at the back of the tree, but we could just about make it out. As we carried on up the field it took off and headed back down the slope from where we had just walked from.
Not to be outdone we carried on up the field and then over a gate on our right and walked very slowly back along the slope above the hedgerow to see if we could find it. Alas we didn't which was a shame, but we did get a lovely view of it as it flew across the field.
As we approached the main gate at the bottom of the slope, we came across a female Kestrel sitting on a branch with her back to us. As a bit of fun we took a couple of photos, then approached her slowly, before taking another set of images. We did this a few times and probably covered about 50 metres before she decided we were close enough and flew off to the field next to Folly Farm, where she was seen flying between the electric fence posts.
This female Kestrel decided this was close enough for us to photograph her......
.........and she decided to do a bit of post hopping...
............. on the electric fence before..........
.........flying off again.
The fields next to the Farm were full of Corn Buntings, but strangely enough we didn't see a single Wheatear. Back at the copse there were a few more Yellowhammers, a pair of Goldfinches and another Chiffchaff. We also met up with Colin Pinchen and showed him where we'd seen the Ring Ouzel. Hopefully he managed to locate it, though it was very elusive.
In total we recorded 26 Species, which wasn't bad for an hour on the hill.
Birds Recorded: 3 Buzzards, Kestrel, Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Ring Ouzel, Fieldfare, 3+ Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Linnet, 2 Goldfinch, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.
Also seen 1 Rabbit