First Trip up the Patch 17/12

Just come back in after a cycle down to the patch. Had about 2 hours and covered the top half of it really sticking along the public footpaths at the northern edge.

Arrived at the start of the public footpath on the north east side and the first bird was a female Bullfinch in the hedge there. Walked along the path and had several Fieldfare on the muddy path. 2 Black-headed Gulls flew over the path heading North East, several Blue Tits and Great Tits were in the hedge along with a few Blackbirds. Walking a bit further along there is a small dip with beech and oak trees in there, within this wood there were around 8+ Chaffinch, 3 Nuthatch and 2 Magpies. After passing through the woods and on a bit further there were around 4 Robins along the path then there is a small bogy area with sedge in and a Wren was within.
        I then walked south down the hill into a small patch of Oak wood where a magnificent male Roe deer ran off down the hill pausing half way down to give me some excellent views. Within this area there were approx 15+ Long Tailed Tits another 2 Nuthatch plenty of Blue Tits and Great Tits, also a few Chaffinch and a Treecreeper at the end. Walking East out of the small wood I disturbed a lovely bushy tailed Fox who ran off up the hill, walking back around and further up the hill towards the pond were a surprise discovery was 3 Moorehen feeding around the edge. A Redwing called from the top of the hawthorn hedge and 2 Buzzards were soaring not far off. Walking back towards the start 5-6 Goldfinch landed in the top of a nearby tree, showing off their colours nicely in the sun. A Lesser Black Backed Gull flew over and 3 Jackdaw finished it off nicely.

A grand total of 22 different species of birds recorded and a throughly enjoyed few hours.

Patch site decided

After discovering a small Nature Reserve about a  5-10min bike ride away from the house I have decided on an area that will be deemed as my patch. The Nature Reserve is Grovely Dingle and is owned by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, it is not accessible to the public but is by special permit so I have sent an email in order to try and obtain this permit. What it basically is, is a small patch of woodland surrounded by fields. There are a few public footpaths around it so I think tomorrow I will try to get up there and have a better look. From google maps I have been able to map out the area and have noted a few small ponds within the area.

I'll try and attach a map of the area which will be my patch, not sure how this will work as the picture is quite large. The blue line will be the boundaries of my recording area, the yellow lines are public footpaths, red lines indicate a pond or building and the green line is the boundaries of Grovely Dingle.

For anyone who would like to look this up on google maps, type in Wasthill lane into google maps and you should be able to recognise it from the picture below.

14/12 Earlswood Area

Managed to get over to Earlswood briefly to try and get Golden Plover in the fields nearby that are fairly regularly reported over there but there was no sign, checked out the 'hungry horse' field nothing there then drove around fields nearby but no sign of Golden Plover or Lapwing. Had a few Fieldfare and a Buzzard took off from one field with something in its talons. Will have to go back and try another day I suppose!

My First Post

Well seen as I've made it I thought I best make a post just in case anyone visits it!
This Blog won't really start off properly till the start of 2010 but if you are interested in Birding and would like to follow how I'll get on with my patch challenge don't forget to add this to favourites or follow this blog.

Once I have decided where my patch will be I will make my self some targets for the amount of birds I want to see etc. Drop me an email on any tips you might have for me on Blogging as I've never done this before and Patch birding.

Hopefully you'll want to come back to this in the new year it should be a lot better by then.

Thanks