Winter is bringing in the migrants at St Aidan’s now, and the Hillside has proved a good spot to see them. Monday brought in some great sighting of fieldfare this week. These are very social birds, spending the winter in flocks of anything from a dozen or two, to several hundred strong.
This sighting was shortly followed by a flock of the UK’s smallest true thrush - the redwing. It’s creamy strip above the eye and orange-red flank patches make it a distinctive and striking bird to see.
Another gem spotted on this walk was a great sighting of two green woodpeckers flying off into the trees, these striking looking birds live off a diet mostly of ants, ants, and more ants! They use their strong beak to dig into ant colonies and eat the inhabitants.
Thankyou to our Monday ranger Karen for these sightings!
St Aidan's Kingfishers have been getting their fill of fish again this week. The pair can been seen fishing on the north western side of the reedbed most mornings, and are more than happy to be paparazzied by visitors as they do so!
Marsh harriers are seen almost daily in flight over the reedbed and Ridge and Furrow, perhaps scouting for any small mammals that may be lurking within.
That's it for this weeks recent sightings blog, pop in sometime this week and let us know what you see!