Tuesday 21st February 2023 - Stanton Prior/ Burnett

 

With just a spare morning the 2 Amigos stayed fairly local with a short drive to Stanton Prior for a walk around the village and farm looking for farmland birds, following this a move to Burnett looking for similar species. Parking by the farm lots of Chaffinch were visible along with many Collared Doves, also seen were Blackbird, Dunnock, House Sparrow and Carrion Crow. Walking along a lane a large flock of over 150 Starling were spotted in a tree before they flew into a field that already held many Chaffinch and many more were in the farmyard I would estimate well over 100 birds were seen.

Chaffinch - Stanton Prior (Bath Birdwatcher)

 We turned round to do a circular tour of the village and soon saw some Stock Doves flying over. Looking through gaps in the hedgerow Pied Wagtails were in the field beyond, a Robin was singing from the top of the hedge and a Buzzard was found sitting in a tree with a Pheasant close by. Blue Tit, Skylark and Jackdaw were ticked. I then heard the call of a Goldcrest in a fir tree which when found appeared to be 2 male birds aggressively chasing each other. As we continued a Magpie was seen in the distance then a bird of prey flew up from a field into a tree it was a female Kestrel,

Kestrel - Stanton Prior (Bath Birdwatcher)

A Herring Gull flew over. Wandering up another lane to a gate a Stonechat flew from the hedge into the field and a Great Tit was also seen. Lots of birds were over the far side of the field in ivy covered trees most being more Chaffinches but a few flew closer to us where we were able to identify them as Yellowhammers. Walking back to the car we added Song Thrush to our tally.

Next stop Burnett where Goldfinch were our first new bird of the day soon followed by Long Tailed Tit. As we turned off the road onto a footpath 2 Roe Deer were in the field to our right and as we watched a Brown Hare spotted us before we saw it running away into the close by woods.

Roe Deer - Burnett (Bath Birdwatcher)

Green Woodpecker and Wren were new sightings for the day. At the end of the footpath where it entered fields, 2 Red Kites were seen, these proved to be our last new sightings for the day.

 

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