The North wind doth blow
I was up and about by 05.30hrs so 'did' the moth trap in the half-light. The promise of a cloudy night hadn't materialised, so the trap was not heaving with moths - in fact, apart from a smattering of Hebrew Characters and Common Quakers there was just the single new species for the year, an Early Grey.
I decided to walk up to Canons Farm, which normally takes 25 minutes. The early sun gave a weak pulse of warmth and together with the calmness made for a pleasant enough start to the day. Thoughts had foolishly turned to migrants (and by that I really mean Wheatears, hirundines and Ring Ouzels!) but the fields remained very quiet, the hedgerows were silent and the skies largely empty. Slowly, but surely, the wind started to pick up from the north, with each passing minute the temperature lowering. As if recognising such conditions, a large feeding flock of thrushes materialised, with 200 Redwing and 175 Fieldfare reminding us fools as to the real season. A lone Great Black-backed Gull flopped over eastward, a local species for the farm. This was an overdue addition to the Patch Challenge list. Cold and a little disappointed I headed home by 10.00hrs.
In other news: with Whitearses now well and truly arriving on our shores, and filtering inland, my favourite bloggers have started to plaster such images all over cyberspace. At the moment the boys from Essex are giving the Kent contingent a good kicking, but Plod and Plover both reside in the Wheatear capital of the South-East, so they should be expected to hit back with a vengeance.
I decided to walk up to Canons Farm, which normally takes 25 minutes. The early sun gave a weak pulse of warmth and together with the calmness made for a pleasant enough start to the day. Thoughts had foolishly turned to migrants (and by that I really mean Wheatears, hirundines and Ring Ouzels!) but the fields remained very quiet, the hedgerows were silent and the skies largely empty. Slowly, but surely, the wind started to pick up from the north, with each passing minute the temperature lowering. As if recognising such conditions, a large feeding flock of thrushes materialised, with 200 Redwing and 175 Fieldfare reminding us fools as to the real season. A lone Great Black-backed Gull flopped over eastward, a local species for the farm. This was an overdue addition to the Patch Challenge list. Cold and a little disappointed I headed home by 10.00hrs.
In other news: with Whitearses now well and truly arriving on our shores, and filtering inland, my favourite bloggers have started to plaster such images all over cyberspace. At the moment the boys from Essex are giving the Kent contingent a good kicking, but Plod and Plover both reside in the Wheatear capital of the South-East, so they should be expected to hit back with a vengeance.
Comments