At the crack of dawn this morning, we were watching and listening to a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, drumming away and really knocking hell out of some dead ash trees. It was a superb morning, clear blue skies and bright spring sunshine. The celandines and primroses were out and bluebells are well on their way, shooting through the leaf litter. Spring Wood is not far from my home and is superb for woodland birds. All three woodpeckers, plus Nuthatch & Tree Creeper can all be seen here relatively easy, provided one puts in time and is patient. A Curlew […]
At Staunton Harold Reservoir this morning I found a superb flock of Redpolls and after carefully checking through the flock of around 80 birds, I discovered at least 30 Mealy Redpolls mixed in. At least 2 birds appeared to be colour ringed. Unfortunately I was not able to determine the colours and sequence of the rings. Nevertheless a great local find. A classic Mealy Redpoll, large size, grey appearance, heavier looking than Lesser, bold white wing bar and short stubby looking yellow bill are all good indicators to help with the ID process. In Derby along […]