Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Cromwell Bottom this morning

The feeding station on Tag Loop is now getting plenty of activity, but unfortunately not from Yellowhammers yet :-(( I topped the feeders up again this morning and spotted Blue, Great & Coal Tit around the feeders. Green Woodpecker disturbed from below the feeders as I approached (I thought they only fed on inverts ?). The open feeding area had a flock of finches which took off long before I got close enough to see which species they were. The most regular bird in the open area near the large stone is a Crow. It is waiting every morning in a small tree when I get to the feeding area, as soon as I scatter the food and move away it nips down for breakfast on a small pile of nuts and sunflower seeds I leave on the stone for it. I also take a bag of cheap carrots with my every few days and pile these under the trees near the feeders. Roe Deer like the carrot "feeding station" as the carrots are always gone the next day and I often see them moving away as I and the dog approach in the mornings. I aim to move the carrot feeding station around as I don't want the deer to become too used me and the dog as not everyone keeps mutts under control around wildlife and we do get the odd "Great White Hunter" on site now and then unfortunately.

I spotted a weird "flying ball" going over the river to Brookfoot loop and when I got the bins out it turned out to be a Jay minus tail ! It seemed to fly OK but I don't give much chance for it performing acrobatics until the tail grows back ! I also spotted a Little Owl flying across the top of Tag Loop, only my second sighting of one at CB. Not much else around this morning apart from Kingfisher, Dipper, Little Grebe and Heron on the river section.

1 comment:

Nick Carter said...

Thanks for the update Paul, lets hope the Yellowhammers come eventually. Not heard anything re the Yellowhammer feeding station at Bradley Hall farm, will contact Sean for an update.