Nearly winter

A few more duck in now - Teal probably over 60, and 20 Wigeon joining a similar number of Gadwall.
The drier weather this last week has seen the water levels drop a little and so the few remaining cattle in the meadows I have allowed over the concrete bridge to then far half.
In fact its been so mild the grass has started growing again, and then late drilled wheat has just poked its head over the parapet.
Still very few Fieldfares around  - counted just a dozen this morning. They were flying over the down to the wood above, passing by the 60 Starlings that have taken residence with the grazing cows.

Autumn

Nice weather at the weekend - but not many birds around.
A few Fieldfares had appeared over the last week - but they seem absent at the weekend. The unharvested barley is beginning to attract a few Chaffinches - a couple of dozen at most.

Good autumn colours now - a week later than normal.

Buzzard

Corn Buntings

2 males singing this morning - dot something I've heard at this time of year - but then they have been absent for rather a long time. So a quick check in BWP - and yes, males will sing in the winter months. Nice to hear - even if it makes me long for summer again and winter is yet to start!

VizMig

A visit to the Kench at the bottom of Hayling Island yesterday was highlighted by the visible migration going on for the first 2 hours after dawn. I had heard about the huge numbers of woodpigeons that migrate along the coast at the end of October/early November, and this was the first time I had seen it. Many flocks of several hundred birds worked their way westward - a farmers nightmare of course!
not that these were the only birds spotted - Redwing, Brambling, Jackdaw, Siskin, Redpoll, and even a few Swallows. A tremendous sight to see so many birds on the move, with a background of gently calling Brent Geese in the harbour behind.

Sudden arrivals

Of course just mentioning something means the opposite will occur!

Today 16 Teal flew overhead - heralding the expected frosts at the weekend no doubt,

Mild Weather

Mild weather has meant a lack of winter visitors so far.

Down the meadows I have seen a solitary Teal and today a male Shovelar which was rather nice. Snipe seem in short supply as well - with only one or two seen at a time.

Last week a Goshawk was chasing a woodpigeon - presumably the same bird that the visiting Treshnish group saw prior to the excitement of a Great White Egret.

The flock of Linnets and Goldfinches that numbered 200 on the down a couple of weeks ago has now dwindled down to 40.

Curlew

In spite of helping catch shore birds on the Solent for some 14 years a Curlew has always evaded me.
So on my first outing this autumn the good news is we caught 2! I extracted the first out of the cannon net and was amazed to find it already had a ring - and not just any ring - a Belgium one - so a foreign control (see photo). So after recording the ring details we added colour rings so it can be readily identified again in the field, and then released it.

Theres a short video of it flying off here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5MA1eDb5Vk


The other bird was unringed and so I finally got my ringing tick!

Mid-Summer

The wet weather contues - after the wetness of April, a dry spell in May allowed the first cut of silage to be taken. But now its back to the rain again - and cold nights with it.
Numbers of moths caught in the moth trap have consequently fluctuated wildly. From really low points of early/mid April - with just 3 moths in the trap to 40 to 50 by the end of May, now back to 20 or less.

Still some pretties turn up - the bright yellow Brimstone is probably now just over, but a Poplar Hawk Mothturns up most night. A small catch up on the down on th the 4th produced this Small elephant Hawk Moth.

Juvenile tits can be seen around now so some successful broods must have fledged, although the boxes around  the garden seem to have not been attractive enough. A Robin is sitting on egs at the base of a tree in the garden at present - having  survived a falling silver Birch in the high winds of Thursday, and then my sawing it up with the chain saw for most of the day today.

In the meadows the song of Cetti's, Sedge and Reed Warblers and Reed Buntings forms a sonic mosaic that pieces its self together over the course of a walk. The wet weather has resulted in a burst of growth in the vegitation and a mid-summer look is all around.

A glimpse of sun and there's a flash of blue along side the ditches - damselflies have just emerged.

Around and about the fields are starting to change colour

Spring nesters

Tits and warblers may be hard at it in preparing nests, but for some things are different.

Lapwing - should probably have had chicks running around by now, but instead they left the area, so presumably the eggs were chilled or the chicks died in the rain.

Rook - pretty full grown by now - I saw a pretty well full grown bird hopping around the bushes below the nests in the wood next to our house. If it made enough noise I would guess its parents would find it.

Herons - I did my annual count of the big heronry up the road - a bit late but going into a colony in high wind or in heavy rain is not on - too much disturbance and a risk to chicks. In the end end my worst fears of finding dead chicks on the ground after being blown out of their nests did not happen - and a pretty good count of 125 nests was made - a fairly standard figure. Not much sign of Little Egrets though some were around - will need a check later.

OK not the best - but you can see a heron - the nests are rather high up!

Spring Floods

April appears to have been the wettest ever - well i recorded 5.4 inches (137mm) for the month. This was nearly the combined total of November through to March!
This has resulted in the inevitable flash flood - wait 24 hrs and up goes the water. All that extra water has to go somewhere - and in this case its over the banks and into the central and northern parts of the meadows - including the new snipe area.

So out on the flood today were over 20 Mallard - plus 3 very small ducklings, 3 pairs of Tufted Duck, probably about the same Gadwall, but maybe more, a pair of Little Egrets, 3 Lapwing and 2 Wheatear which were standing rather incongruously on an island in the flood!. This evening (when the above photo was taken) I added 7 Yellow Wagtails to the ornithological goodies!

Lambing

Well April is lambing time for us - and this year it was raining time as well - with over 4 inches of rain recorded.
This has made it all awkward with the shed getting blocked up with ewes and lambs that are waiting to be turned out.
The worst weather at the beginning of the week reuled in several dead lambs at birth (we lamb outside) and a couple of those outside.
But the bulk are through now and the remainer will take the next 3 weeks to fininsh off.
But on the whole a good number of lambs, and the Schmallenberg virus didnt seem to have hit us.
So here's some photos to cheer the wet spring!

Spring Update

Finally Swallows turned up at the farm last Thursaday (12th April). Late - but at least they came back. So far the count is up to three and already the collection of nesting material has commenced.
Cuckoos have been heard by various people - but not me! The same holds true for Sedge and Reed Warblers - but they cant be far away, perhaps once this wet and cold week has gone they will arrive.
The damp weather is not helpful for our new born lambs, and one or two losses are inevitable.

Up on the down a single pair of lapwing remains on the stone curlew plot - still none of these, but I'm ever hopeful, and the Corn buntings have peaked at 5!

Spring also means the turn out of the cattle, which means a chance to look out for birds on other localities - so today I saw a kingfisher near Harnham, and heard a faint drumming of a woodpecker which had me wondering about Lesser Spots. I shall have to hear it more closely to decide which species it actually was.

Another bird seen in april on a regular basis is Red Kite and yesterday I saw one over the meadows just like last year. Probably the same as that seen near our neighbours entrance last weel. Must be breeding somewhere in the south of the county - best not to know! I'm pretty sure this one had a transmitter aerial on it.

The work on the snipe meadow is in its last week, so I guess the next post will be about that when all is done.

Badgers

Well badgers are a cattle farmers nighmare - or at least thats what some would have us believe.
Having spent hundred of hours out badger watching thiry years ago now, the badger has a special place for me.
Bovine TB mat well be adsent now, but the clock is ticking and at some point it will arrive.
I personally hope we are vaccinating cattle by then,
In the meantime, one of the things one tried to see was young cubs in April. It would usually be mid to late April before we saw any. The adults coming out and dissappearing  and then the emergence of cubs - who if we were lucky we would see play with each other, scampering around trees and logs.
Well I put my camera trap out this week and was pleased to see these photos amongst the hundreds of (mostly empty) shots. I just didnt quite have it pointed in the right direction!

I really ought to go and try tto see them - perhaps when they emerge a bit earlier!

Snipe Meadow 2

Just what is underneath the grass of a meadow?
Well it seems that under those I farm its pretty much peat!
We expected to find chalk, to be able to make up one or two places, or protect the corners of a bridge.
What we found was just a shallow run of chalk under the bottoms and then back to peat again. So this skin of chalk must have been carried out to the meadows in carts and laid down to form a solid base to the drainage system, and so maintain a level for the system as a whole.
Not many birds around at present - so just a pair of mallard in the last 2 evenings, though tonight there was a moorhen as well.

The biggest problem is the shear amount of material piled up and what to do with it!
This we will address at the half point  by flooding up and examining where the water reaches.

Meanwhile where have the hirundines got to? Although I saw one swallow on the down on 27/3, I havent seen one since. Of further note is that by the end of last week the lapwing disappeared as well as the corn bunting - I just hope he's in hiding until some moisture returns.

Snipe Meadow 1

Work has at long last started on creating a special meadow for snipe.
Although they visit here in the winter, snipe always totally disappear by the end of April.
So no-longer is the sound of drumming heard in the spring.
This unfortunately probably holds true for the whole of the Avon valley.
So a 7 acre patch is having its chanels cleared and reprofiled.
Water will be held high for the winter to encourage duck, then reduced slightly in the spring to keep a high amount of visible water and lots of margins to encourage the any snipe to stay.
Then at the end of June all boards will be lifted to dry the meadow out to maintain it and graze as necessary.

Bird song at dusk

Link to soundcloud
Birds sing at dusk as well at dawn, although for a much shorter period.
The above is for a medley of thrush sounds - well mostly!

Spring Birds

Spring was definately here today.
Chiffchaffs singing - now out of the valley, and a Blackcap as well.
Plus Brimstone and (I think) a Peacock butterflies.
So spring returns the cycle starts again.
But what if it didnt.

Here a passage from Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac on the death of the Passenger Pigeon.

There will always be pigeeons in books and in museums, but these are effigies and images, dead to all hardships and to all delights. Book-pigeons cannot dive out of a cloud to make the deer run for cover, or clap their wings in thunderous applause of mastladen woods. Book-pigeons cannot breakfast on new mown wheat in Minnesota, and dine on blueberries in Canada. They know no urge of seasons; they feel no kiss of sun, no lash of wind and weather. They live forever by not living at all.

May be we will learn - but not in time I think.

Harrier Fly By

I normally get a single sighting of a Hen Harrier each winter.
This year was looking rather lean until now, when a glance at some cattle yesterday morning resulted in a fast application of brakes and grabbing of binoculars and there in the field of view was a male Hen Harrier. What a great bird. Sublime.
Then as it disappeared over the field boundary I heard a Corn Bunting singing. They are back again for the second year in a row, and probably 2 males singing on the down. But the good news is that a third bird is singing half a mile away as well!

This was the female caught and ringed on 26th Feb.