Day spent around Little Woolden Moss and Croxdens today; small species list, but some notable ones. Nice to see the Daves again.
Little Woolden Moss:
3+ chiffchaff 2 willow tit (at least one a juvenile) 1 spotted flycatcher 6+ linnet 1 reed bunting 16 meadow pipit 64 carrion crow in fields to W. 2 golden plover (over, then seemed to drop in field to N) 1 snipe 2+ kestrel 2+ buzzard 1 marsh harrier (green wing-tagged individual noted below)
Croxdens; quite quiet:
Good sized mixed flock comprising of blue tit, great tit, long-tailed tit and chiffchaff. 2 linnet 3 swallow 2 jay heard 1 grey heron 1 kestrel 1 buzzard
Of the most note on the walk up Astley Road in the morning: 21 pied wagtail all on the same turf field, 1 raven, 3 kestrel and a juvenile buzzard repeatedly calling. Nine mistle thrush on the way back.
1 juvenile Marsh Harrier harassing a local Buzzard over the pools until the Buzzard's partner came and they saw it off low east
3 Yellow Wagtail over
3 Raven; 2 over together (with some display between them) east and one south
8 Buzzard
1 second calendar year Hobby, chasing (and catching) dragonflies and also sat on the bare peat for a while
360 Swallow feeding over trees by the railway area, just east of Croxdens and possibly sand quarry pool to the north for most of the late morning, which flew into a tight ball on arrival of the Hobby which seemed uninterested in them anyway! Later on towards early afternoon they drifted off SW over a period of time
611 Swift moving over the moss SW with some feeding briefly over the copses and trees on their way but most passing quickly through and mainly fairly low, from mid to late morning until 1pm when things slowed up dramatically and only dribs and drabs moved through
Few hours round Croxdens and Little Woolden Moss this morning and afternoon.
27 lapwing in field off Astley Road on the walk up, 4 singing yellowhammer along Twelve Yards Road (not that I could find any of them), and 4 reed bunting flitting around a bit further along, heading towards Cutnook Lane.
Croxdens:
2 chiffchaff heard calling 5+ willow warbler 3 whitethroat 2 bullfinch 1 reed bunting 10+ swallow 30+ swift 2 stock dove 1 green sandpiper 3 grey heron 1 buzzard
Little Woolden Moss very quiet, I managed a feeble 17 species in roughly two hours (my lowest ever for here):
Fairly quiet again around Rindle Wood and Astley Moss SSSI this afternoon but plenty of juvenile Willow Warblers about the SSSI, many trying their first feeble attempts to sing!