A Wet Walk and a Damp Squib

A Wet Walk and a Damp Squib
A Wet Walk and a Damp Squib

I knew bird 100 for the patch would fall soon and I was pretty sure it would be the bird it was, but how it fell was a whole bigger disappointment. As I explained in my post What will be my 100th Manor Farm Bird I was pretty sure the bird would be a Redwing, and it was, however I had imagined it would be on one of my long wanderings around the patch, I’d stumble on a passing flock or better still a stonking feeding bird allowing wonderful photos however what I got was a single fly over bird high up as I walked into the local pub (Wolverton House) for breakfast yesterday (Sunday) it wasn’t even on the walk after. So that was the damp Squib, now onto the wet walk.

A Wet Walk and a Damp Squib

I knew today (Monday 6th October) was going to be wet, but I didn’t realise quite how wet it was going to be, waking at 7am (in preparation for taking the little lady to school), the rain was already hammering down on our bedroom window (the joys of velux windows), but I thought what they hey after dropping Bo off I togged up in my waterproofs and headed off into the field, bins in hand and camera in bag (using my Vertex 300 AW as it has a built in waterproof cover).

A Wet Walk

I decided to head straight for the Manor Farm pits to see if I could find any waders that may have been brought down by the rain, but on the way, after getting patch bird 100 yesterday number 101 was quick on its heels when a single Great Black-backed gull flew over with two Lesser Black-backed gulls (always a sure sign of winter when the large gulls fly by), I still can’t believe it took so little time (almost 2 months exactly) to get over 100 species on an inland patch like this.

Manor Farm Pits

Unfortunately the waders hadn’t arrived in droves. In fact there were a few Lapwing; 1 Green Sandpiper; and 5 Common Snipe; and little all else. The usual Wigeon; Teal; Shoveler; and Mallard; along with Little Grebe; and a few Little Egrets was it. I did have one minor moment of excitement as I spotted a lone pipit on the mud in amongst the Pied Wagtails. It had the appearance of water pipit, but as I got a scope on it it flew off never to be seen again. There were a good number of Meadow pipits near by (also on the pits but more in the scrub) so I assume it was just a badly seen one of these.

I carried on around the lakes complex seeing even less, the only notable bird was a very wet Kingfisher, and he hadn’t even been in the river! By now the rain was really coming down hard, and I wasn’t hopeful of seeing much else.

Old Locks

I carried on under the aqueduct and up passed the old locks. Again not seeing much. There are now two cows that have crossed the river, and are hanging about here, but that was all. So I carried on home, very wet and not having even removed my camera from its bag, (hence no photos).

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