April had started with howling winds and a dash of snow, the poor removal guys thought we'd moved to Iceland! The house is in a pretty exposed location, the beauty of that is the views all around and of course access to our garden for many birds. We also started to roam around the surrounding area, see what we might see.
The Patch is what I call the area surrounding the house, the main lane is 1 mile long, the side lane 1.5 miles and there are fields all around us so interns of the patch, anything within those. Outside of that I'd share to Birds in the Wild
Willow Warbler
When I see one of these little warblers I still have to look up the Chiffchaff vs Willow Warbler site.
I mentioned the Reed Buntings in my April post, they do tend to stick to the fields and hedgerows around us but, now and again they pop up in our trees and on the fence, curious to see what all the others are getting maybe?
Reed Bunting female
The field behind the house is left fallow this year making it very easy for us to watch anything out foraging there and the Pheasants wandered around out there quite often. The ladies are rarer to spot, keeping themselves hidden away most of the time and running away quickly if they see you.
Pheasants squaring up to each other
Female Pheasant in the field
A pair of Red-Legged Partridge on the beat in the lane
Red-Legged Partridge pair in the lane.
So I knew these were partridge but I'd never known that we have two varieties in this country, Red-Legged and Grey, the Red-Legged having been introduced from France for the hunting crowd. The more we wandered the surrounding area, the more we saw, so much wildlife around us.
Lapwing over the West field
Lapwing and accidental Wheatear
Accidental Wheatear
I went out looking for Lapwing in the fields to the West, they're pretty flighty birds, especially when nesting so, I only got a few distant shots and spotted my first Wheatear for the area.
It was during these wanders that I strolled past the reed beds down the hill and heard a Sedge Warbler calling. I'd first spotted these down in Solva in West Wales, great if we have them here too.
Sedge Warbler in the reed beds
Sedge Warbler in the reed beds
I think I might dedicate a space just to the Sedge Warbler. As we settled in and weather permitting, we strolled up and down the lanes and across the surrounding fields, never having to walk more than a couple of miles to see lots of wildlife.
Whitethroat singing
Red Kite overhead
When the first Red Kite flew over the house, I ran for the camera, fully expecting it to disappear but, I don't think it was overly bothered by me at all, rather focussed on finding some tasty morsel but, great to see such a magnificent bird almost directly overhead.
Red Kite in profile
Grey Partridge pair in the field
We finally spotted a pair of Grey Partridge sneaking by the house in the field out back, we have both types of partridge around us :)
I'd been so happy to see the Tree Sparrows that I hadn't noticed a lack of House Sparrows in the garden, they were still here just spend more time out and about than in the garden.
House Sparrow female on the fence
So, an introduction to some of the birds we see in our immediate surrounds, I'll probably do another of these for those areas further afield and maybe for the other wildlife around us.
