Local Birding In Leighton Buzzard Area This Week

First snow of the year at The Lodge

I popped into The Lodge this morning to see if the snow had brought the Brambling and Siskin to the feeders, initially unfortunately not so I popped over the road to the Heath and was surprised to find some pretty substantial mixed flocks of birds feeding on the seed in the fields, containing mainly, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, the odd Siskin, Lesser Redpole & Dunnock. There were also quite good quantities of Red -legged Partridge, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing in the area so not a bad move on the photographic front.

I eventually ended up back at the feeder by the shop and at last a Brambling appeared very briefly so not a bad morning in the field. During my earlier visit to the feeders we also had a very brief visit from a Stoat but he was far too quick for me to get a shot, next time i will nab him.

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer, Broom GP, 11th April 2015

Day Out Around Beds Sunday 19th Jan 2014

I started out today with some good friends on a mission to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and was at the Northill/Shuttleworth junction at the crack of dawn to try and get a view, but although it was heard it was never seen. Plenty of other birds about at this site, Buzzard, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits etc. To cheer ourselves up we went down to Broom and immediately got onto the Merlin feasting on the ground, that cheered us up. Then we moved onto Blunham to try and see the Black-Winged Stilts, escapees or not a lovely bird, much to our surprise we also ran into an Avocet at the same site along with many Thrushes, Song, Redwing, Blackbird and Fieldfare. We then moved onto Tempsford airfield where we ran into the Lesser Spotted Angry Gamekeeper, who was very aggressive and rude, apparently you all need to know the Memorial Barn is totally off limits and is on private land, so no Little Owl lurking allowed. RSPB types are not welcome in the words of this OAF! Despite this nonsense we came across good numbers of Siskin, Yellowhammer and a couple of Brown Hares.
Finally I returned to Northill about 3 ish to try and get a view of the LSW but alas, once again it was heard again but not seen.  Never mind all in all it was a good day even if the Tempsford boys tried to spoil it.

Thanks to Richard Bashfords recent posts, I have been up to Tempsford a couple of times in the late evening over the past week and have managed to run into Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Turtle Dove, Quail, Little Owl, Barn Owl, Kestrel, Buzzard e.t.c amongst many other more common species. this is all due to the excellent info and grid references he posted last week. Thanks to Richard its been a real treat and it's not just me who has benefitted from his post.

Cheers Richard

Sean