Stonechat makes it 138

A very mixed selection of weather from the back end of Storm Callum made birding difficult over the weekend. With heavy rain & wind on Saturday morning I held back my visit with Mrs D until late morning. With Stonechat still not on patch year list we decided to walk the patch perimeter where there are more variations in habitat. 

A couple of Redwing flew over as we headed through Dunnington Court Farm where as usual there were huge flocks of Red-legged Partridges & Pheasants. It won't be long until the large flocks of winter thrushes will be back in this area. Grey Heron, Mallard, Linnets & Yellowhammers were recorded on the way to Ennister Wood. Sadly no movement on any of the Tree Sparrow boxes installed by Ragley.

As we walked towards the gate a small bird flitted up flying like a Stonechat then flew straight across the field. My eyes were firmly fixed on the location so we retraced our steps to this central strip of rough land between the fields. After a short wait the Stonechat emerged swinging in the wind, becoming our 138th species of the year. Trying to use the camera was very difficult but did get a few shots. 

The walk along the railway line & river only returned a large flock of Long-tailed Tits, a Treecreeper, Nuthatch & Goldcrests. I do really like this area and is close to where last year Yellow-browed Warbler was found. 

Heading over the A46 bridge the Pophills Common Buzzard was drinking on the river bank. As we reached the gate and looked towards the barn a Wheatear was perched on one of the tree stakes. This absolute stunner showed very well for about 20/30 minutes when it was flushed by the local shoot who started late due to the rain. Always happy to find a Wheatear. We didn't even check the main pit due to the shoot now spreading everywhere.

Heavy rain was the issue on Sunday and it didn't stop during the duration of mine of Jon's count. There was no movement at all as it has rained from late Saturday night. The weather was rank bad. 

Our meagre counts included 28 Little Grebe, 85 Cormorant, 6 Grey Heron, 13 Mute Swan, 425 Greylag, 2 Canada geese, 6 Wigeon, 5 Gadwall, 42 Teal, 160 Mallard, 1 female Pochard, 38 Tufted Duck, 2 Kestrel, 1 Water Rail, 144 Coot, 3 Snipe, 1 Herring Gull, 1 Grey Wagatail, 6 Redwing, 6 Chiffchaff, pair of Ravens and a Redpoll.