Saturday 20 February 2010

West Hartford till dusk...

Bleak West Hartford: Every Birders Dream Patch...

A quiet day all round - a lazy morning, some photo-processing in the early afternoon then an hour or so at West Hartford till dusk. Weather was very cold, some of last nights snow was still laying, I expect there will be a frost tonight.

Little to report bird-wise, with three grey heron, three common buzzard, two kestrel and one male pheasant in the field. Wood pigeon numbers remain high with as many as 1,500 working the fields either side of the River Blyth. The trip out was saved by two oystercatcher flying over north-east. Oystercatcher normally arrive at West Harford in March, so it was unusual to have two this early in the year. The pond was frozen, so there was no sign of any duck. A very quick intermission break at the Horton Burn produced two moorhen and one grey heron. I haven't seen the kingfisher for a while now...

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