Today, tho, saw a cracking return to form. I hadn't seen a Tree Sparrow since 25 Oct, but this morning six Treeps returned to the garden and were very active on the feeders and at the sombrero. Since they first moved in in early January, this was the first period I had been Treep-free.
Next up was the blur of a female Merlin shooting past the office window mid-morning. Fantastic!
I had declined a lunchtime birding session with local recorder Brian Stone to concentrate on the Lowland Farmland Bird conference I am running for the BOU. It was nearly to my loss, for at 1.55pm Bri rang to tell me he had found a Black Redstart and a male Brambling at the Millennium Bridge, Northey, at the western end of North Bank east of Peterborough.
Black Red is a good local find and when he said it was photo-ready I deserted my desk in favour of what turned out to be a spanking little bird.
I arrived with no immediate sign, but then it appeared on the corral just where Bri said it was feeding, and I watched it for 30 or so mins as it fed actively from the fence posts and gates of the corral. Fantastic. And a really photogenic little bugger!
A quick shufty along the track where Bri had seen the Brambling with other finches revealed jack-squat - no finches at all. The hedgerow on the other side of the field tho was chocker with Fieldfares, about 220 at least, making a right racket.
