Pale Birds

Terrible shot of some of the flock

First of all I will have to apologise for the quality of the pics as the birds were too mobile and distant. Excuses out of the way a lot of birds in the tip area again. I was there at first light and from the foot and mouth plantation there was a covey of 6 Grey partridge, a Buzzard and 2 snipe. 2 Peregrines few west together male at the front. The female swooped onto a Woodpigeon but it was too quick for her and she continued flying west. The male flew back over the tip lifting the flock of over 200 finches. Once settled I tried to look through them but they were flighty. I walked through Stobswood to check out the other woods but only saw regular birds like Goldcrests and Coal Tits, 2 Woodcock and Jay were nice to see. I returned to the tip and saw ADMc looking through the Finch flock which were in the smaller Alders to the west of the site. Despite this they were still difficult to look through but in flight we could see a very pale bird but couldn't pick it up when it landed. We did see a bird with a good white rump but didn;t see the rest of the bird properly...frustrating. Trying to count the flock was difficult with possibly a hundred birds being Goldfinches, 50+ Siskin and 20+ Mealy and a similar number of Lesser Redpolls. There were 17 Mealy's in one small Alder. A Buzzard alighted on a pylon carrying a Rabbit and a total of 4 Hares were seen. The female Kestrel appears to have been replaced by a male and a couple of Snipe were flying around. The Weasel was active again as was a Bank Vole. In the field where the Horses are there were 18 Fieldfare.