Thursday 24 December 2009

Groundhog Day


Another trip to Rawcliffe Moss and the above picture was taken this morning and not on Tuesday! It had snowed again over night, but the roads weren't as bad. My first stop was at Phillips (the farmer who gives us permission to ring on Rawcliffe Moss) to drop a couple of Christmas presents off, then to my office to feed and finally to Rawcliffe Moss.

Even the snow wasn't quite as bad, I still needed my shovel to clear an area to put the food down on. At the start of the track 14 Yellowhammers fed around the Pheasant feeder and Fieldfares had dropped to only one. There were still ten Blackbirds and a couple of Song Thrush.

Yellowhammer

I put a few apples down so hopefully it will give the thrushes something to feed on. I am pleased to report that the number of Tree Sparrows has increased to 88; presumably as a result of me clearing the snow away a couple of days ago. Likewise, Chaffinch had increased sixteen.

As I was putting the food out a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over from Curlew Wood and it looked a bit odd as it perched in the hedgerow waiting to go to one of the peanut feeders. Job done, it was back to the car for an icy drive home.

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