Tuesday 19 August 2008

I got another wet collar on the way into work this am, and very little was noted during my walk in. This afternoon brightened up a bit, so I headed off out, first of all round to check the lake area, and the scrubby bit next to it, then again off to Migrant Alley. At the lake, just MALLARDS were present, with the odd MOORHEN, and along the edges of the lake, a mixed flock of GREAT, BLUE and LONG TAILED TITS fed together, with singles of CHIFFCHAFF, GOLDCREST and TREECREEPER.
At Migrant Alley there was no sign of Wheatears or Whinchats, but plenty of LINNETS (flock of 15) and GOLDFINCH (flock of 21), also, overhead I counted 5 SWIFT going south, and later a single went over, with a LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL. I'm off work now till next tues. so plenty of migrant hunting to be had!

Above, a Goldfinch, in Juv. plumage

Above and below, Adult Goldfinch feeding on thistles.



Below a HERRING GULL. You can see the wing moult really well. One last primary feather on the wing tip to renew.




3 comments:

Mosura said...

The foreshortening effect of the lens make that barbed wire look particularly unpleasant. I have seen a couple of large flocks of Goldfinch (50+) near here lately. Just one in my garden this morning.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Warren: I love the red head on the Goldfinch. The gull on wing is really neat.

Mike said...

Something I want to get is a goldfinch on a thistle, nice shots.