With a morning to spare I decided to have a look for some of the decent birds that have ben seen recently over the border in Bedfordshire.
First off was a visit to Flitwick Moor to try and track down a pair of Lesser spotted Woodpeckers. I knew the chances were slim but if you look you may see, if you don't look you definitely won't see.
As it happened I didn't see.
There were Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Treecreepers and a Sparrowhawk doing it's spectacular 'rollercoaster' display flight. Lots of common stuff including Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits. But perhaps the most unusual bird seen was this 'Black bellied' Great Tit.
A new site for me was Kings Wood at nearby Ampthill, where Firecrest was my next target. A couple of birds had been present here since last October but had only been rediscovered yesterday.
It was quite a walk to get to the spot that they frequented but on the way several Skylarks were singing and Yellowhammers told of their empty sandwiches. In the wood itself Nuthatches and several Goldcrests sang.
There were three other people looking for the birds, so hopefully this would make it easy to find them. Well no not really! For about an hour we scrutinised every small bird that moved amongst the Ivy covered trees - Blue tits, Great Tits,Long-tailed Tits and to make things harder more Goldcrests. Eventually a singing bird was tracked down right near the top of a bare branched tree and although it was difficult to pick out any detail on it from beneath, eventually it turned it's head to reveal the distinctive white eye stripe - Firecrest !!. Unfortunately it didn't linger and this was the best view we had.
My last stop off was Brogborough Lake. Here I scanned through the masses of Pochard and Tufted Ducks to find a couple of dozen Goldeneye, a few Mallard, Gadwall and eventually the two drake and one duck Scaup that I had come to see.
First off was a visit to Flitwick Moor to try and track down a pair of Lesser spotted Woodpeckers. I knew the chances were slim but if you look you may see, if you don't look you definitely won't see.
As it happened I didn't see.
There were Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Treecreepers and a Sparrowhawk doing it's spectacular 'rollercoaster' display flight. Lots of common stuff including Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits. But perhaps the most unusual bird seen was this 'Black bellied' Great Tit.
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| Black bellied Great Tit (click on bird) |
A new site for me was Kings Wood at nearby Ampthill, where Firecrest was my next target. A couple of birds had been present here since last October but had only been rediscovered yesterday.
It was quite a walk to get to the spot that they frequented but on the way several Skylarks were singing and Yellowhammers told of their empty sandwiches. In the wood itself Nuthatches and several Goldcrests sang.
There were three other people looking for the birds, so hopefully this would make it easy to find them. Well no not really! For about an hour we scrutinised every small bird that moved amongst the Ivy covered trees - Blue tits, Great Tits,Long-tailed Tits and to make things harder more Goldcrests. Eventually a singing bird was tracked down right near the top of a bare branched tree and although it was difficult to pick out any detail on it from beneath, eventually it turned it's head to reveal the distinctive white eye stripe - Firecrest !!. Unfortunately it didn't linger and this was the best view we had.
My last stop off was Brogborough Lake. Here I scanned through the masses of Pochard and Tufted Ducks to find a couple of dozen Goldeneye, a few Mallard, Gadwall and eventually the two drake and one duck Scaup that I had come to see.
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