22.02.07

Not a birding trip but I took my boy upto Yarner Wood this afternoon. I found the 4 Mandarin on the small pond by the car park, what a beautiful bird.

I walked around to the hide with the boy and on the way found some frog spawn, except I think it was newt spawn. It was on a tree stump in the open, looked amazing in the sunlight.

At the hide we found lots of activity on the feeders, mostly Blue and Great Tits. However a few Coal Tits made an appearance and then a few Marsh Tits joined in.

Back at the car park a Robin flew around us and came so close even though we had no food, it was quite happy hopping around our feet, even the boys who moves so quickly.

Looking forward to using my new scope tomorrow!

18.02.07

No photo today because the weather was rubbish. But I drove to the warren today. Not much around. One thing that made me look twice was a flock of Redthroated Divers, 13, flying together, off shore. Is that a sign of approaching spring?

Not much else on the sea, 3 Slav Grebes feeding but lots of Shags too. In the bight there was alot of waders, mainly Grey Plovers and Dunlin. The bushes weren't much better. A hand full of Goldcrests and Goldfinches and that ya lot.

I've been thinking about getting a new scope lately, I will keep you posted.

Well spring is on it's way, as you can see this Blackhead is coming into summer plumage. This is now a common sight this time if year.

Birds seen to day at Passage House, Greenshank( year tick ) 7 Redshank, Common, Blackheads, Herring and Greater Blackback Gull were all present. With 2 female Mergansers on the river and Lapwing on the island.

While in Bovey Tracey today I saw a Grey Wagtail and Crow mobbing a small raptor. It was to high to ID but I think it was a Merlin due to the size and colour. It was much smaller than the Crow and the belly was rusty colour. When I first saw it i thought it was a Peregrine.