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During mid October there was a substantial daytime
migration of fieldfares, which came in flocks of between 30 and 150 birds
in each flock. The majority of these birds flew overhead westwards and did
not settle in the area. The following morning on lawns all over the
village there were substantial numbers of redwings, together with male
blackbirds and song thrushes, which had been overnight arrivals. In the
trees and bushes many more finches had arrived and in amongst these
smaller birds were quite a number of goldcrests. Dotted about were odd
birds of prey with a “harrier” and peregrine falcon being mentioned
and it is quite possible that some unusual species have been blown off
course.
A series of observations made at an isolated farmhouse in the area started with the arrival of a pair of house martins earlier in the year. These birds had not used the particular house eaves for a few years previously and came as an isolated pair. They duly built a nest and raised a brood of four young. Just before the young were fully fledged and due to fly the parent birds built what can only be described as a semi-detached nest fastened to their own. The nest however, was not completed as only the lower half of it was built. As soon as the first brood of young had left the original nest, the parent birds started a second brood in the original nest, and the young from the first brood used the semi-detached as a roost. They came back each evening to make an extended family. The second brood of young hatched and grew steadily until a “sparrow hawk” attacked the first nest and it is believed that only one of the second brood lived to fledge. Tony Ezard |