Bird walk 16 November

By recent standards this was a fairly uneventful walk, but it was enlivened at the end by Simon spotting a Sparrowhawk. The list in full:

Sparrowhawk - 1 soaring above the park. A fairly large and stocky bird meant that this was likely to have been a female

Chaffinch - a few showed well

Goldfinch - good numbers feeding in the treetops

Starling - several

Woodpigeon - several in the park plus a flock of 30+ flying overhead

Collared Dove - at least 1 seen

Feral Pigeon - several near the café

Robin - good numbers seen and heard

Blackbird - several, mostly males

Blue Tit - mainly heard

Great Tit - several showing well

Herring Gull - 1 or 2 cruising overhead

Carrion Crow - several

Magpie - 1 or 2

House Sparrow - seen in and around the wildlife hedge

Wren - at least 1 heard singing

Dunnock - at least 2 seen and heard

Thanks to the loyal people who came along. The next walk will be in January - see you then!

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Comment by Elaine Hicks on November 26, 2014 at 14:31: Thank you Des I have put date in diary but is there a time set yet? Elaine

Comment by Des Bowring on November 25, 2014 at 13:10: Sorry you missed the walk Elaine. I didn't get round to putting posters up. The next walk is on 18 January 2015.

Regards

Des

Comment by Elaine Hicks on November 18, 2014 at 22:33: I am really sorry I missed the bird walk, I walked round the park on Friday to see if there was a notice about a bird walk, having checked web site first but didn't see one. Meant to send an email asking when the next one was due but didn't manage to! So missed out. Next one is January.....any date set yet? Do let me know.

Comment by Simon Randolph on November 18, 2014 at 16:26: Though to be honest, when I spotted the bird of prey circling and soaring above the park, I blurted out ' Buzzard'! It needed Des to quickly correct me -' No, a Sparrowhawk'. Having seen umpteen Buzzards soaring and gliding, but with no previous experience of sparrowhawks flying in this way, I just wrongly concluded - Buzzard.

Looking at the pictures below, it is clear how very different the two birds look in flight. The Buzzard (first picture) as well as having a short, wedge shaped tail, has in proportion, much longer wings than the sparrowhawk, whose wings are 'dumpier' and have a much greater 'bend' in them. Having Des to point out my obvious mistake, and Iooking at the book illustrations, I think I will be able to distinguish the two species in future.