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| Blackbird |
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| and Wood Pigeon scoffing most of the food. |
The bird table was quite busy but often the small birds had to wait there their turn due to the large number of plump Wood Pigeons and Blackbirds.
A bit more snow and -10C overnight but a little walk over the Fell was required.
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| The horses in the fields certainly needed their coats overnight |
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| South Burn Woods |
A wander along Beaney Lane produced one surprise when a
Common Snipe was flushed out from under the hedge, calling as it got up. With the snow I would have expected a Woodcock more than a Snipe.
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| Hogweed - some of this was still in flower a week ago |
Later, walking over the fell it or another
Common Snipe flew over, again calling. After getting a newspaper at the garage on the A167, I took the footpath nearby, back towards the fell and scanning the hedgerow I found a
Little Owl perched in an old
Ash tree. I didn't approach any closer as it was watching me and would have been away if I did get nearer. Carrying on, not surprising, I saw very little as I plodded through 15" of deep virgin snow.
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| Waldridge Fell with a bit of snow |
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| One of the Sessile Oaks in the hedgerow looking quite majestic today |
A few
Siskin and
Redwing flew over but otherwise the only other birds were the same species as have been in the garden this week
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| Deer and rabbit tracks |
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There were lots of tracks in the snow, mainly of
Rabbit but also
Roe Deer who had obviously been digging about and feeding on
brassicas hidden under the snow in one of the arable fields.Despite teh numerous tracks I saw only a few Rabbit and only 1 Roe Deer, a good way off, near Kimblesworth.
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| This had been dug up and partly eaten by Roe Deer as is evident by the tracks in the snow. |
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| Male Stonechat |
Heading towards the woods, as well as the
Common Snipe flying over, a male
Stonechat was flitting amongst some dead umbellifer stalks.
Hopefully the 3 pair on the fell will survive these next few months, as despite their reputation for suffering in harsh winters, they came through last winter, fine, somehow.
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| Waldridge Lane and no traffic at all as I walked along it - excellent! |
The woods had a few more birds than the other day, with a few
Bullfinch, 20
Lesser Redpoll, and a small number of
Blue, Great and
Coal Tit but I was glad to get home as trekking through the deep snow is not easy.
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| My walk home |
enjoyed that walk -
ReplyDeletemore white on the way all this coming week.... with a good gust behind it too by the look of the forecast
The best bit was walking through that deep fresh snow and hardly seeing a soul,even the tracks in some of the photos are from animals. Once you avoid the hills and the sledges and the car parks with the dogs you virtually have the place to yourself. It really was very pleasant.
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