Rod and I went out for a walk in the afternoon on 4th March with the dogs, Tilly and Mia. It was very cold and grey but I decided to take my camera anyway, as always “Just in case” especially at this time of year. I’m so pleased I did, when we walked out of the Spinney at the bottom of Greenway lane I spotted a small flock of birds flying off the Burdock seed heads. I was a bit cross at not taking it slowly as I came through the gate but luckily a couple of braver Goldfinches stayed for a while longer. Then later on as we walked by the apple trees there was another flock feasting on the Teasel seeds.

We headed towards Netmead field and as soon as we got there I saw a Yellowhammer in the trees then all of a sudden a large flock of birds rose from the field and flew around, you can never see them in the undergrowth. There must have been a hundred or more. I never think to put my camera into video mode, but I did get picture of a number of them. I counted around sixty in the image when I put it on the computer at home and there were many more than in my image. Most of them were Yellowhammers but there were other finches like Goldfinches and possibly Reed Buntings, we enjoyed seeing them. I haven’t seen so many like that probably ever, although it was a common sight years ago at this time of year.

The next day was a better day and I decided to walk towards Netmead field on my own after breakfast to see what was about and spend a couple of hours just watching. I saw mainly Yellowhammers in the field, there were a number of small flocks but not as many as the previous day. A Heron flew by as did a Jay and a Buzzard while I was down there.

I’m so glad I was there to see them all a real treat.