Things often happen unexpectedly. Last Sunday I headed off to buy a paper at the local shop and happened to notice about a dozen birds in the treetops on the road up I hadn't seen before. I couldn't make out much in the prevailing light beyond some pale colouring and shortish length. So having retrieved the paper I went back out with the binoculars and realised quickly they were siskins, feeling slightly annoyed I hadn't recognised their twitterings.
Siskin was also the first bird I saw on Tuesday, when I set off on a lone bike ride towards Annandale having decided the Wednesday group ride would be a washout. Two siskins were sitting on the ground on a farmer's field doing not much apparently.
Skylarks were much in abundance again. I heard them calling in five or six different locations, though only once near enough to observe. I also heard curlew and a lapwing that I saw briefly in passing.
The early afternoon was fine and there was a heron flyng over a field, a couple of magpies and a mobbed buzzard. Not observed however were tree sparrow or linnet, or indeed any form of butterfly.
On the way back there was a dead pheasant on the roadside so I pinched a couple of its tail feathers for the cat.
No comments:
Post a Comment