Lady Blackcap put in a couple more appearances over the past week, oscillating between the feeders and the mahonia. The latter is now sadly depleted, which may be the end of her visits. Luckily I did manage to snap this fairly typical and somewhat charming pose. Still rather unclear though, as she tends not to stay in the same place for long.
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| Blackcap |
I also finally managed to get to Wallington Hall, if by a rather roundabout route. The common crane that has been sighted in Northumberland over the past few weeks is actually in the immediate area so I went up for a bit of a scout around. This proved unsuccessful, though I did with another birdwatcher managed to pick up a few tips about access from a local lady out with her dog.
So I went round to Wallington as a reserve, with the notion that bramblings might be a possibility. There was quite a bit stirring at the heavily laden feeders over a period of time, including most notably loads of coal tits, a nuthatch and a couple of glimpses of a marsh tit. Initially there was also plenty of chaffinches but I couldn't find a brambling among them. I noticed that, every now and again, all the birds suddenly dispersed and suspected a bird of prey in the area. Sure enough, a male sparrowhawk parachuted in right below one of the feeders and started looking around for easy prey.
After he flew off and birds slowly returned, a treeecreeper turned up and,
as on my last visit, started to become more of a groundcreeper, picking up sunflower seeds that were lying about beneath the tree.
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Groundcreeping treecreeper |
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So quite a rewarding visit for a fallback!
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