After the mists rolled in on a cold clear midnight it started pouring down. And carried on well into the day. All the small birds in the back garden kept deep under cover though I did manage to see one of the spadgers. Where the hell the rest are is beyond me. Things calmed down just after lunch and the great tits and the female coal tit feasted on sunflower seeds in the rain. The female blackbird did Nijinsky leaps to grab the last of the ivy berries on the embankment, her mate must have been around somewhere because he'd been belting out a song for the dawn chorus.
- Blackbird 1
- Carrion crow 1
- Coal tit 1
- Collared dove 1
- Dunnock 1
- Great tit 2
- House sparrow 1
- Jackdaw 1
- Magpie 3
- Robin 1
- Woodpigeon 3
Suddenly, late in the afternoon, the wind blew away the clouds and the sun came out. I decided it was too late to get much done in the way of birdwatching so I took the opportunity to get the week's shopping in a couple of days early. It was either that or set out for a last-minute dash to try and catch the Kumlien's gull in Widnes before the light failed.
As I set out the usual couple of dozen black-headed gulls were leaving the school playing field for their roost. This time yesterday there was the year's first three-figure crowd of black-headed gulls on the field. I'd counted one hundred and ten of them when they all rose and set off to roost. I expect they'd been collected together by the rain front, it's nice to know we can still have the numbers every so often. I did a shop at White City in Old Trafford, as I waited for the bus home there was a steady passage of lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls heading for Salford Quays.
 |
| A Stretford sunset |
We had an interesting class of sunset. Tomorrow is another day and the weather should be less dramatic so I'll get a walk done.
No comments:
Post a Comment