Llocale

I spent an enjoyable few hours performing an orbit of my cottage in Lloc early this afternoon.

First stop was the petit Pen y Gelli nature reserve near the A55. Never brimming with birds, the site was true to form today, although it did hold a circling Raven and a brace of Red Admirals, including the above battered example.

A small area of scrub near Pant y Wacco was a little more productive with the heavily berried Dogwood and Hawthorn containing a handful of buried Blackbirds and a single Redwing, plus a patrolling male Sparrowhawk.

Next up was beech woodland to the north-east of the village. After a very uneventful walk through I settled down on the edge of a field to scan the horizon above Whitford.

After adding, three Buzzards, another Sparrowhawk, four flyover Skylarks and a sextet of Stock Doves I noticed a trickle of Chaffinches working their way towards me through a row of mature trees next to the footpath.

The trickle soon became a flood as scores and scores of birds appeared on the scene seemingly out of thin air.

Soon they were flying over my head and landing in an old oak tree situated in the middle of a small pasture.

After roughly 6-700 had flown by I eventually heard what I had been keeping my ears pricked for – the more scratchy and wheezy call of a Brambling.

Eager to grill the flock further I decided to inch closer to the oak, but unfortunately I was not the only thing eyeing the finches. A male Sprawk buzzed the canopy and scattered them in all directions and in a matter of seconds they had all vanished as quickly as they had arrived…

Until later.