Friday 21 May 2010

Foston Tea Party






















































Today was our final visit to the Organic Farm, and we enjoyed the warmest weather, and arguably the best birds. The biggest surprise was the Tawny Owl, which we flushed from the woodland edge in the morning, and it headed deeper into the wood. I had assumed that the louder noise in the rookery was due to the young rooks fledging, but it may have been the presence of the Owl which unsettled the Rooks. There were more Yellow Wagtails visible than last week with one stunning male hovering over a field of Charlock right in front of the am group. The pm group had to make do with a female giving much closer views from the edge of a bare field. We had Yellowhammers, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Common Whitethroat, and a Sedge Warbler. A Linnet showed well even though it was concealed in a bush, whilst in the pm a Treecreeper and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker were seen in the wood. The young Herons were virtually all fledged with only one visible in a nest, but it was impossible to be sure from our vantage point on the extreme edge of the colony how many more were in nests out of view. Butterflies seen included: Wall Brown, Brimstone, Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Speckled Wood and assorted Whites. Both sessions enjoyed their organic produce and the afternoon group ended their walk with a final freshly-brewed cup of tea.
The Tawny Owl is from the archive, but the pictures of the Yellow Wagtail [female], Pied Wagtail, Swallow, Linnet, Rook, Hare, Speckled Wood and Wall [Brown] were taken today.

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