At the start of the year I decided I would try to explore my hometown a lot more than I have in the past. So today I headed for Herrington Country Park. Now, this is place I've been to many, many times and somewhere I know inside out BUT, today I did things slightly different. I made the decision to leave the car at home and WALK there and back! I was interested in exploring the places in between my house and the Country Park. The route I took started at Springwell Park, through Thorney Close Extension, over the Sandhills, past Hastings Hill Farm, into Foxcover Wood and finally onto the Country Park itself. The journey back covered more farmland but was pretty much the same route. The weather was really grey and miserable the whole time but I thoroughly enjoyed the walk. 36 species of birds were seen in total, which may not seem many but for a cacky wet winters day wasnt too bad really. In the spring/summer that total will be a lot higher. The highlights were a flock of Redwings and a totally unexpected party of Grey Partridges in Thorney Close Extension, a HUGE mixed flock of Tits and Finches in Foxcover Wood, and bumping into JBee at the Country Park. But best of all were wonderful views of a HARE on the hill at the Country Park. It was an extremely enjoyable four hours of birding on foot. I could get used to this!
HARE (TOP) & GREY PARTRIDGE (BOTTOM)
At the start of the year I decided I would try to explore my hometown a lot more than I have in the past. So today I headed for Herrington Country Park. Now, this is place I've been to many, many times and somewhere I know inside out BUT, today I did things slightly different. I made the decision to leave the car at home and WALK there and back! I was interested in exploring the places in between my house and the Country Park. The route I took started at Springwell Park, through Thorney Close Extension, over the Sandhills, past Hastings Hill Farm, into Foxcover Wood and finally onto the Country Park itself. The journey back covered more farmland but was pretty much the same route. The weather was really grey and miserable the whole time but I thoroughly enjoyed the walk. 36 species of birds were seen in total, which may not seem many but for a cacky wet winters day wasnt too bad really. In the spring/summer that total will be a lot higher. The highlights were a flock of Redwings and a totally unexpected party of Grey Partridges in Thorney Close Extension, a HUGE mixed flock of Tits and Finches in Foxcover Wood, and bumping into JBee at the Country Park. But best of all were wonderful views of a HARE on the hill at the Country Park. It was an extremely enjoyable four hours of birding on foot. I could get used to this!
HARE (TOP) & GREY PARTRIDGE (BOTTOM)
Nice one Jas. local patching is very rewarding.
ReplyDeleteIts something Ive been meaning to do for ages! We'll see what I can turn up over the coming year.
ReplyDeleteGood to read your 'Green-Birding' trip.
ReplyDeleteLocal Patching is rewarding
OFFH-ing is addictive !
....adding a loop on via the Monument (Little Owl in ivy clad Ash trees nr Cafe, Buzzard over lambton estate), Cox Green(Tree Spug, Nuthatch) & Offerton Haughs(G'eye, Goosander etc) will open up a further diversity of habo & species.