Nice day on Saturday, and with no birding since Wednesday I was off for a walk through Williamson Park and on to Lancaster Cemetery .
Not excactly a birding Mecca our park in Lancaster, but between here and the cemetery I noted, 16 Blackbird, at least the same number of Magpie and 3 Robin. In the cemetery, it was good to find my first 50 Redwing with small flocks very mobile from tree top to tree top, also an excellent count of 7 Nuthatch including three close together calling loudly in an excited call, a Goldcrest and 6 Long-tailed Tit were in trees by the cemetery entrance.
The Bullfinch.
Bullfinch. Geoff Gradwell.
Whilst in the cemetery on Saturday I recalled seeing my first ever 5 Bullfinch here 3 years ago on 30 October 2014, never before and not since. Always the chance I might connect with some again today which didn't happen, but checking through my records I noted another interesting sighting in 2004, when I made the following comments....'The most interesting Bullfinch I ever found was of four seen at Birk Bank car park on Rigg Lane 1 November 2004. I saw four here again three weeks later on 22 November when my records read that they were all male, almost a month later I made a third visit to Birk Bank on 18 December to find 8 Bullfinch and made my claim to have heard the distinctive 'toy trumpet' call of the Northern Bullfinch'.
I don't recall ever seeing Bullfinch in our area of Bowland before, but it is interesting to note that 2004 was the year of a massive invasion of continental Bullfinch into Britain around mid-October when exceptional numbers were reported mainly in Scotland and along the east coast of England around mid-October.
Thanks to Geoff for his excellent Bullfinch composites, and to Richard for his equally excellent Redwing header.
There's a problem with the text background colour in this post which I have yet to rectify, but will have disappeared by the next post.
I don't recall ever seeing Bullfinch in our area of Bowland before, but it is interesting to note that 2004 was the year of a massive invasion of continental Bullfinch into Britain around mid-October when exceptional numbers were reported mainly in Scotland and along the east coast of England around mid-October.
Thanks to Geoff for his excellent Bullfinch composites, and to Richard for his equally excellent Redwing header.
There's a problem with the text background colour in this post which I have yet to rectify, but will have disappeared by the next post.
You have an uncanny knack of finding photos that I'd forgotton I'd taken, Pete. This one didn't ring any bells with me at all! Looking at it, however, I suspect it's one from our back garden. Probably not going to have the pleasure of their company this winter as the small patch of grassland at the back of our garden is now being built on, and it's rather noisy!
ReplyDeleteWe do quite well for Bullfinch in this area, particularly during the winter. We're currently getting between 2 and 4 in the garden on most days (in spite of the building work!). They're always a delight to see. The Goldfinch seem to be impervious to the racket also - numbers are well-up this year.
Best wishes - - - Richard
Richard....Your images are easily located via your tags and I appreciated the use of them as you know.
ReplyDeleteThe building taking place at the back of your garden sounds positively horrific.
Magnificent book, and thanks, for changing my blog Pete.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob.
ReplyDeleteNo problem about the Greenshank, and eleven together too, with a Redshank getting in on the act....Cool.