Seen and/or Heard

I like to set out on a walk, as I did this morning, with some sort of purpose in mind. Today it was to count how many different bird species I either saw (S) and/or heard (H) - and I started well with a red kite (S&H) flying above me as I left the house, followed by the very distinctive tapping of a woodpecker (H) in the woodland by the sheep field.

Most of the walk was through this sort of terrane, with the open area in the foreground the result of the fire that swept though part of the estate land some years ago. There I identified buzzard (S&H), chaffinch (S&H) - lots of them - dunnock (H), blue tit (H)....

....robin (S&H), blackbird (S&H), wren (H), wood pigeon (S&H), collared dove (S&H), rook (H), carrion crow (S&H), pink-footed goose (H) and....

....this song thrush (S&H) which serenaded me with an abandon of joy.

Because I didn't count the birds which are close in to the houses because they're being fed by people like me, some of the birds that might have been included in the count included great tit, coal tit, siskin, goldfinch and green finch.

The highlight of the walk occurred along this stretch of track where my Merlin app once again insisted that....

....a chiffchaff was calling. Last time this happened, on Tuesday a week ago - see blog entry here - I dismissed it as an error, but today there was no doubt: the first chiffchaff (H) has arrived. Sadly, although I spent some time searching for him, he was invisible in the dense coniferous plantation.

Which leaves me with a total of sixteen birds either seen and/or heard in an hour's walk.