After spending all morning on the computer doing college work, I managed to get enough energy summoned to go for a walk. As the weather was quite dreadful, strong winds with showers, I opted for a location nearby where a short stroll was an option.
Beverley has a number of ancient commons, and today I went to probably the least visited of these and least manicured: Figham Common. In the map above I've shaded Figham common green; it's just to the south-east of Beverley.
The common is bisected by a large drain, and bordered to the east by the Hull river. The land between these two watercourses is inundated with rushes and I had two Short-eared Owls there in February 2006. I was hoping for something similar today.
Well, what a disappointment. After about 5 minutes I was questioning the wisdom of this trip; the wind was outrageous and, predictably, all the birds were hiding away in the undergrowth. With my mind wandering to the warmth of my flat and tea with scones I was awakened by a large flock of Fieldfares. They all had particularly colourful breasts, but scan as I might I couldn't find any other species.
That was about the story of the walk really; wind and Fieldfares with a bunch of Redwings thrown in. In fact, the whole common was filled with both these species with probably about 300 Fieldfares and 250 Redwings. A flock of about 40 Linnets and a lone male Yellowhammer were the only other birds to make me stop and look.
So that was it, my exercise for the day. Not one of the most memorable day's birding.
2 comments:
This is a nicely written account of your observations on Figham Common. Other nature writing I have similarly enjoyed has been 'Nature Cure' by Mabey and 'The Snow Geese' by Paul Gallico. I now have a query. I heard a sibilant repetitive whistle coming from a lone hawthorn on farmland (rough grazing, with dense hazel scrub encroaching everywhere) this morning. All I could see in the tree was 2 robins and I was wondering if the whistle came from a treecreeper.
The whistles you describe sound like the contact call of the Robin. Treecreepers do make a very high pitched whistling though and I have seen them in hawthorn scrub at Figham.
Post a Comment