Sunday, February 26, 2006

The Track

The Track runs from the southern edge of the village westwards towards East Beckham. It is just a public footpath that spans across arable land with open veiws to pretty much all points of the compass. This, and watching from the garden, are the mainstay of the bird observations I record at Aylmerton.

The Track featuring Maddy, partner in crime!

Although a fairly unassuming looking spot I have seen some excellent birds and other wildlife from here, the list includes Little Egret, Kittiwake, Mediterranean Gull, Arctic Tern, Red Kite, Montigu's Harrier, Short eared Owl, Kingfisher, Richard's Pipit, Golden Oriole and Snow and Lapland Bunting, plus Red ,Roe and Chinese Water Deer, and on one glorious day in August, a Camberwell Beauty. From late Feb through to mid November I will walk this track virtually daily, sometimes twice but never knowing what I will see next!
Today from the track a nice group of 17 Pied Wagtail were feeding in the ploughed fields, maybe in a couple of weeks time we might have a nice early White wagtail drop in.
Also noted:
Woodpigeon 1500
Kestral 1
Grey Heron 2
Meadow Pipit 2

The Barn Owl was hunting mid afternoon today and was present for about 1/2 an hour, just as the sun disappeared behind a big cloud!


Barn Owl

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