Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Portsmouth (searching for Firecrest)

No sign of Firecrest or even Goldcrest this morning in the area suggested, although I recall hearing the latter singing in past years just up the road by the Roebuck.
I did have a good wander around the back streets and estates, and it was quite encouraging to see the number of people with bird feeders in even the smallest gardens. In the absence of any mature trees, some guy had even wired a nest box onto a lampost!
There was a fair bit of bird noise, mostly Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird and Blue Tit. Highlights were a pair of Goldfinches on a conifer-type hedge very near the Glen View (surely not identifiable as Firecrest...?), a Green Woodpecker calling on the hillside to the NE of the railway line and a M House Sparrow - does anyone know if there is a breeding population here?

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