A morning trip to Rogerstown Estuary in search of winter finches etc. Very birdy. The hedgerows at the top of the reserve had large numbers of birds, including a
Yellowhammer, large flocks of
Linnets, smaller numbers of
Reed Bunting, Common Stonechat, Redwing, Song Thrush, and a
Mistle Thrush. Deeper into the reserve were flocks of finches, including more
Linnets, many
Chaffinch, some
Bullfinch, a
Goldfinch and a
Common Siskin.
The tide was out in the estuary, and the mud was loaded with many hundreds of
Lapwings, as well as several species of wildfowl including
Eurasian Wigeon, Common Teal, Common Shelduck and
Brent Goose. Waders included
Whimbrel, a
Curlew, Common Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and
Knot.
An interesting feature of the reserve was an enormous roost of at least 300
Wood Pigeons.
Best bird was probably a
Raven that flew over, though a
Common Kingfisher in one of the ditches was also a nice surprise.
Adult
Yellowhammer
Reed Bunting
The farms on the reserve are used for rare breeds of domestic livestock, some of them are pretty freaky to look at...
No comments:
Post a Comment