Monday, December 29, 2008

Atlasing

Running out of time I had to cover an Atlas square today, not very promising for a bundle of Quicksilver points but needs must. However, it wasn't quite as poor as I expected with Common Crossbill showing well and more unexpectedly a small flock of Lesser Redpoll. Bearing in mind that in a month or so a visit to this site will be a Song Thrush song extravaganza the lack of this species, still not a Quicky score, is not a little surprising; they are secretive little sods at this time of year.

A shopping trip to Whitby managed Turnstone by sight, we nearly popped one in the shopping bag. But the briefest of Rock Pipit and Grey Wagtail calls were not quite clear enough nor repeated again so that Starling could be 100% eliminated.

4 comments:

The Wessex Reiver said...

Great stuff on here Alastair,and glad to see you're on the challenge. After all it's a bit of fun, and as you say it's quality that counts. Mind you, Muscovy duck? Err?? Keep going, great stuff

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean when you refer to the Starlings. Quite a few of the birds around where i live have mastered the calls of Wigeon down to a T.

Bazza said...

I enjoyed watching the Dipper video earlier in your blog. Living in Hull doesn't give us the chance to see many Dippers, but we usually see one when we visit the stepping stones at Egton Bridge, up your way.

Lindsay Cargill (aka Loxiafan) said...

What were the crossers feeding on down your way Alistair ? Has the larch failed down south as well this year ?