Greys and Yellows

Back to local birding now. HGF is worrying – the juvenile Black-necked Grebe vamooshed on Monday night, only 4 or 5 Tufted Ducks left with no Pochards and the Coot flock down by 30 to 40 birds. Even Great Crested Grebe numbers are down – what’s happening? On the plus side, a male Ruddy Duck was present on Monday and a juvenile today. A few Kestrels and Buzzards are now regular with Swallows and House Martins still feeding over the pool. This morning I counted 56 Collared Doves around the place with a Chiffchaff singing in the south hedge. I do like the cool, crisp and sunny autumn mornings – makes a change from the incessant grey skies, wind and rain of recent!
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On Monday evening on the way home from work I diverted through Rixton. Pool one was full again – 101 Canada Geese. A group of six ducks flew over – 4 Shovelers and 2 Teal. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called nearby and a Common Sandpiper was present on pool two. By the tip a Buzzard landed on the tip face right next to some dozy corvids who took exception to its presence and forced it away. Three Corn Buntings flew around a field off Woodend Lane and six Mistle Thrushes were at the top end of the lane. A covey of 17 Grey Partridges were also here in a newly ploughed field – 3 adults and 14 juveniles. The latter were very pale coloured and very conspicuous. In Winwick I stopped off on Highfield Lane and scanned the stubble field nr the mobile phone mast. A group of thrushes were present with a flock of Starlings – 8 Mistle and 2 Song. A couple of Whitethroats were buzzing around in the top of the hedge – three Buzzards were all perched on different pylons.
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Tuesday was windy in the morning – two Buzzards were hanging in the wind over the east side. On the way home from work again yesterday I drove along Holly Bush Lane – as I reached the junction with Woodend Lane I noticed loads of birds on the wires further down Woodend. Through the scope I counted 14 Yellow Wagtails (an amazing blitz of yellow) with a few Mipits and around 18 Linnets. The Yellow Wags flew off when I got my camera out and went down into a ploughed field behind the house – unfortunately out of view. I don’t think I have ever seen so many Yellow Wags at the same time. A Sparrowhawk flew low over a potatoe field, no doubt hoping to flush some finches. Three Buzzards and a couple of Kestrels constituted the rest of the raptor line up. I also found three further coveys of Grey Partridges along the lane of 14, 10 and 7. None of these were the pale birds from the day before so at least 48 Grey Partridges are currently along this lane.
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At home the usual covey of Grey Partridges has now reappeared with at least 13 birds in the field behind the garden. I also counted at least 12 in the field by the lone house on Parkside Road later on – they suddenly seem to be everywhere. Four Kestrels were hanging around Waterworks Lane area with a Sparrowhawk also circling high over. On the way back from the vets I popped down Lady Lane – one of the Little Owls was perched in the hollow of the usual tree.