Sunday 14 September 2008

Flegling Gooners?

Driving along Reach Road I noticed a lot of birds flying into the Holiday Centre.

I thought that these two Herring Gulls standing on a hedge looked strangely incongruous. I realised that they were waiting to come down to feed on a lot of bread that had been put on the lawn.
This scruffy looking Carrion Crow was already there along with Magpies, Jackdaws and Starlings attempting to compete with a large number of Gulls.

A lot of the Gulls roost in the fields along Reach Road and there are a growing number of Great Black-backs among them. The right hand bird of this group is showing heavy moult of the wing coverts, as pointed out on the flight picture a couple of days ago.

I had a wander on the fields over towards the MOD land, still hoping to find a Dotterel lurking in some hidden corner. Needless to say I was unsuccessful but there were a few Corn Buntings feeding on the stubble. The one above was playing King of the Castle on a pile of rubble.

This one was on a more traditional perch.

My Grandson Jack, reached the important milestone of eight years old yesterday, and as a Birthday treat Pete took him and his brother. Josh, to a Premier football match. Ewood Park, Blackburn's ground is the nearest to them, and as luck would have it Arsenal were the visitors. From the highlights on the TV, the Gunners put on a good show for them. I haven't visited a huge number of grounds but this is one I have been to. It was on Nov 30th 1963 and while the score yesterday was 4-0 to the Gunners on the day I went it was 4-1 to Blackburn Rovers. So in a way Jack and Josh put the record straight for me!

1 comment:

John Young said...

Hi Tony. With regard to clay triple lines, the nearest good beech stand to me is about 3 miles away so I guess it might have flown from there. No lunar underwings for me though so swings and roundabouts. Finding that a lot of moths getting a bit tatty now. Good for you to get the fan-tailed warbler and still sounds as though some good numbers of migrants are being found.