Thursday 15 March 2012

Patch 2 lifer arrives en masse

The Safari was able to drag a protesting Frank a little further up the hill this morning and we got as far as the tower and a few feet further. It was worth all the coaxing and cajoling as one of the Peregrines was sat in a less usual place and silhouetted nicely against the foggy grey background. What a brute she is! As we were admiring her ample proportions a Goldcrest flitted (should that be flut?) past us into the large conifer trees on the other side of the road...a taste of things to come...
The drive down the prom was fraught as it was so foggy we couldn’t see the sea, not good for our early morning safari over on to Patch 2. We parked up got out of the Land Rover, locked the door and immediately heard a Goldcrest call (P2 #46)...an all time Patch 2 tick as well! It flut across the car park entrance into the hedge along the garden wall and we heard a second call. Walking quietly along the path we soon discovered a THIRD...none in seven years then three together...what’s that about buses?
In the office a quick look at the Fylde Bird Club’s sightings page for yesterday showed there had been a bit of a significant influx of Goldcrests in to our area and a scan through the other ‘local’ websites revealed this was part of a much wider scale movement.
We had our brew first in the hope the murk would lift and after about half an hour or so it looked like it had so we risked a venture out on to the patch. From the seawall we couldn’t see the sea and the beach didn’t really hold anything of note.
Above us somewhere in the cloud there was some action, we heard several Alba’ Wagtails, got on to a Grey Wagtail and, not before time(!!!), connected with a couple of Meadow Pipits (126, P2 #47).
Getting the camera from the office we had a singularly unsuccessful attempt at getting some Goldcrest pics, they’re too quick and were too deep in too dense vegetation. 
Our afternoon safari started by hearing the three Goldcrests again, this time in the front garden. We think they’ve got themselves trapped in an urban dead end and can’t find the next clump of bushes to flit to. We grabbed the camera from under the desk; the plan was to get ahead of them as they moved along the hedge and wait at a more open section...the ‘more open’ sections aren’t that open!
We weren’t prepared for one to fly out of the hedge and land on the roof of the building. It had a look around, decided there was nowhere to go so flitted back down into the hedge again. Then it hopped out on the grass...and we got it! Well sort of...hardly a mind blowing set of photos.





We’d like to bet we can count on the thumb of one hand the number of times we’ve seen a Goldcrest actually on the ground. Nice pic here of one from yesterday over on our early 1980’s patch on the South-side.
Nothing was on the still horrendously grey and gloomy sea bar a single Great Crested Grebe and only a hundred or so of the thousands of Common Scoters.
Where to next? Ohhh a long weekend of safari-ing beckons...
In the meantime let us know what rarely, if ever, drops to the ground in your outback.
Only 30 behind Monika now...

2 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Whey hey! New patch tick :-) Welcome to the world of impossible photography Davo, they just dont sit still do they!!!

cliff said...

Nice one getting the Goldcrest photos Dave, they're enough to drive a man to drink trying to photo them, I've deleted 100's of photos of empty branches as I've tried to snap them over the years.

I spent an hour or so on last Saturday looking for Goldcrests at Stanley Park with no joy, I've not had so much as a glimpse of one for yonks - but it sounds like another trip to the park maybe in order tomorrow to try & locate one.