Staunton Harold, on 31st March, 2010

Suffering withdrawal symptoms, brought on by the recent spell of foul weather, I decided to go out for an hour or two - in spite of the strong cold wind and dull grey skies. I started by visiting my two Little Owl sites on the Staunton Harold estate, and was not surprised that the birds were not showing. Something was necessary to drive away the blues, so I went up to the Round Car Park, above the reservoir. This has become very popular with the casual bird-watching public, and the wall round the car park is totally covered in seed at all times. This makes it virtually impossible to set up natural-looking shots, but it does ensure a good supply of birds. The Tree Sparrow population seems to go from strength to strength. A Reed Bunting did a short display of a very strange posture! A marauding Sprawk (unsuccessful) selfishly perched with its back to me and with a thick branch between him and me - one day I might get a half-decent shot of a Sprawk! Not the best of interludes photographically, but it did help keep the spirits alive!

Chaffinch (male)

Reed Bunting (male)

Sparrowhawk (male)

Tree Sparrow

Greenfinch (male)