Monday 7 February 2011

After the Storm ...

For the first time in at least 4 days the sun managed to poke it's way out from behind the clouds this morning, and although the wind was still as strong as it has been the rain didn't come and it felt like a nicer day. Walking home from school today I passed over the dyke that runs through derby road, and the recent rain had swelled it to the highest level I have ever seen it. The dyke runs into the fields behind my house and this explains why they have been flooding over the weekend.

I heard a large flock of Pink Footed Geese somewhere close by when I reached Carleton and spotted them going down on the north-west edge of the village, so I decided to go investigate and try and locate them (once I had picked up my binoculars from home of course). I had a pretty good idea where they would be and I managed to locate them in an area of fields along a stretch of road between Poulton and Bispham. However typically they were keeping their distance and I had to search for a closer vantage point, which although I managed to get slightly closer, still meant that half the flock was out of sight. I would estimate around 400 birds but nothing out of the ordinary apart from a single neck collared bird, although it was too far away to read.

I still had a good walk however with plenty of birds around, the totals being: 6 Mute Swans, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Moorhen, 8 Mallard, 1 Kestrel, 3 Redwing (first I have seen in a while), 2 Wren, a Pied Wagtail and a Curlew. Not bad for my local area and 4.5 km walking is never bad for you.

Also forgot to add that I had a great house bird in the form of a Merlin on sunday! Only my second record from the house..

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