Figham in the sun

In the past all my visits to Figham Common have been in the winter and it has become a place that I have associated with windy and overcast weather. So, today seeing it in bright sunshine and getting quite hot walking around was quite unusual. Unfortunately I chose the hottest part of the day to go out and birdwatching was not at its best. Still, I managed a few site ticks, which was pretty simple due to the arrival of a number of common migrants.

Most notable was the large number of Willow Warblers, with over 30 heard and 4 seen; a single Chiffchaff was pretty lonely in comparison. Two Swallows were another sign of summer, but other species were tricky to find. A small group of 4 Linnets and a singing male Yellowhammer were nice to see and in a nearby pond a few common species were hanging out - Tufted Duck, Greylag Goose, Coot, Mallard and Moorhen.

Walking alongside the Beverley-Barmston drain revealed a pair of Kingfishers excavating a nest hole in the steep sandy bank - I'll have to come back at a later date to see if any young fledge.

A number of Pheasants made themselves noisy as I walked back to the car but the real surprise was in the reeds on the river Hull next to the car park - a singing Sedge Warbler. This seemed quite early to me so I listened for around ten minutes to make sure and finally caught a glimpse, but enough to be sure that I'd identified it correctly by song (well, I don't know what else I thought it might have been!).

Cormorant, Treecreeper and Tetnus!

Enough sunshine today to tempt me outside, just the short distance to Figham Common. Walking along the river flood defenses I could see that many of the fields to the east were flooded by a few centimetres of water. I expected to see some birds feeding on these such was the extent of the flooding - but nothing. I can only imagine that these fields which are usually used for sheep receive too much fertilizer and flood too infrequently for the invertebrates that wading birds such as Lapwings favour.

A Cormorant was in the river and must have found a very good fishing spot because it refused to fly away, even when I was only a few metres away - it simply continued to fish, catching something every 20 seconds or so.

The bushes and shrubs at the far end of the common were alive with Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits, with lots of Blackbirds foraging under a row of mature beech trees; but just one Redwing and no Fieldfares. Interesting to me was a Treecreeper calling ina hawthorn bush, having seen one in the unlikely position of in a lone bush in the middle of flooded grass the last time I was at Figham. This location was not so wierd, but this bird seems to have decided that 10 beech trees and some hawthorn scrub constitues a woodland.

Plenty of Skylarks were singing, a few Reed Buntings seemed to be pairing and a nice male Yellowhammer was almost singing - he must think that spring is here already.

On my way back to the car I managed to slip in the mud and rip the skin on my left hand on a piece of barbed wire. The spike went right in and I was caught on the fence. When I unspiked myself I noticed that the barb was not only rusty but covered in cow's hair and mud. Having not received a tetnus injection for 12 years I had the inconvenience of going to the doctor for an injection. Amazingly I was in and out in under 5 minutes having had the injection. Wow! This goes a small way towards restoring my faith in the NHS. There is still a long way to go though as they messed up my hernia operation last year.

Figham Common species list

Yesterday's trip to Figham Common turned up a number of new birds for the location, mainly due to the fact that I very rarely go there, so I've posted here a list of the birds I've seen at this site. As is obvious from the list of species below, I've only ever been there in winter, I'll have to get out there in spring and add a load of common migrants to the list. Has anyone got anything to add to this list?

An Unlikely Treecreeper

Having finished a peice of coursework, due in later this week, I found some time for a quick walk at Figham Common. What a bright sunny day it was too, but a wintery breeze finally brought some seasonal temperatures. I only had an hour an a half; from 2-3.30pm but there were plenty of birds around. However, the common is very muddy, there aren't really any proper paths other than along the river, so decent boots are a good idea or you end up with cold, wet feet - like I did.

The first bird I spotted was a Barn Owl, hunting over the rushy part of the common. Figham seems to be a good place for this species, I've seen at least one here on all but one visit. As it neared a clump of trees a flock of about 60 Fieldfares flushed out and flew away making a racket. Just a little further along a male Stonechat sat on a fence post and was shortly joined by a female.

Unfortunately, the pasturemasters seem intent on keeping the common drained, I'm not really sure why, there are only a few cattle grazed here in the summer, and where tractors have been used to dig drainage channels it is difficult to pass without ending up to your knees in mud.

I crossed to the western section of Figham where there is very wet pasture, some scrub and a small rushy reedbed (actually it's greater reedmace). Loads of birds here - hundreds of Redwings and Greenfinches feeding on hawthorn and these were joined by a Goldcrest. Heading towards the wettest area I heard a Treecreeper calling from a lone, and very stunted, hawthorn in the middle of a very boggy area. After some time I finally saw it, having thought that I must be mistaken - surely it could have found some better trees around to creep around on? There are some decent beech trees a few hundred metres away, they would have been much more suitable.

At the reedmace patch 15 Teal and about 35 Snipe were flushed - there always seem to be lots of snipe here - and a large female Sparrowhawk flew overhead. Not much else on the way back, just a Meadow Pipit and a first winter Reed Bunting, although there were more excellent views of the Barn Owl which didn't seem to mind me being there.

A few Herring Gulls were calling overhead but I was too busy unsticking myself from the mud and trying to untangle myself from thorns and barbed wire to bother to take more than a quick glance.

As usual for my birdwatching walks near Beverley, I was the only person there. I guess the other birders are out somewhere better!

The First One - Figham Common

So, I finally got this blog set up somewhere close to how I want it. There seems to be some sort of problem with the template options when I'm on the new system, so I've ended up mucking around with the old template and html editing!!

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.