This is my favourite time of year to see wildlife around the farm and out on the local nature reserves. Something well worth doing is having a walk around the farm here at Darts; massive flocks of finches are now on site. Goldfinch, Linnet, Chaffinch and best of all Greenfinch are all making the most of the old sunflower heads out in the field. Greenfinches have had a hard few years lately, what with Trichomonosis (a disease which affects finches) and a couple of wet breeding summers, their numbers fell away locally. As you can see from the image, we now have great numbers on site which is great news.
The Brent Geese are slowly making a return to the farm; the rich flood plain fields make an ideal feeding ground for these small, noisy geese. The numbers will continue to grow as the winter progresses and its well worth taking time looking through the birds to see if there are any rarities in amongst them. Over the past week, in with the Canada geese, a Red breasted Goose and a Greenland White-fronted Goose have been spotted.
Hope everyone has a good week,
Gareth.