On 17th February I felt like getting out for a walk to look for wildlife in the midmorning, even though it was raining on and off. I took myself off for a short walk round the lanes close to home. Plenty about, the birds are really singing at the moment, Thrushes, Robins, Bluetits, Great tits, a Green Woodpecker flew in front of me but disappeared behind a tree, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers tapping away, Dunnock with their sweet song, so much to enjoy! I was hoping to see the Stonechats again close to home and I was lucky once again, I saw two males on a fence and a female a little distance away, they are quite nervous of people so don’t come too close.

I’d noticed a grey bird in the same field as the Stonechats, I saw it on one side of the field and then it flew to the other, I couldn’t get close enough to see what it was but when I got round to the path to the other side I spotted it again and managed to get a photo at a distance, it looked almost like a Robin without any colour! When I got home I found out it was a Black Redstart female from the UK Bird identification Facebook page,  I was really excited as they are red listed birds RSPB Black Redstart. I was asked for the location for the counties bird identification database. Apparently they are in the Chat family the same as a Robin and the Stonechats it was with.

There are more Goldfinches about at the moment, I saw a small flock of them by the old Teasel heads, feeding off the seeds, we have had a couple in the garden feeding of flower seed heads that I leave overwinter.

There are still plenty of sightings of Redwings and Fieldfares as I wander the lanes, sometimes fairly large flocks, I often see them in the large Oak trees and suddenly they take off altogether, or they are feeding off the quieter fields.

Couldn’t resist another Robin image probably because they are accommodating and don’t fly away when you lift a camera lens, easier than most!

When I got home I noticed “Our Gang” of Roe Deer sheltering along the hedgerow from the rain, we don’t see them for a few days and suddenly they turn up again and as always I like to see that the four are still together.