There was shooting going on in the private areas today which meant I had to stay north of Wisley Airfield. I'm quite glad I did as I managed four year ticks. Wisley Airfield was busy, with 5 Buzzards and a few Brambling and Tree Sparrow. Lake Boldermere was the same, with plenty of waterfowl, a Cormorant, and a (nearly) summer plumaged GCG. However, the star was Ockham Common. I noticed a small bird fly into an old pine and 'binned' it. I was thrilled to find that it was a Woodlark, it always surprises me just how small theyare. It flew down onto a tree stump and I was even more pleased to find that there were two of them. I turned to my camera only to discover that, yet again, it didn't bloody work.
There was a lot about so I decided to position myself where I had the best view and just sit still. Almost instantly a 1st winter Stonechat popped up onto some gorse. It was great to finally catch up with this bird. Having seen what I wanted to I stayed on the Common but moved down to a roe of birch/alder trees. After about half an hour, I looked up to see a group of smallish birdsin a silver birch. I approached cautiously, trying not to flush them and confirmed their identity as Lesser Redpoll. Rarer still, a Siskin was accompanying them. The flock was extremely mobile and there was no chance to check for Mealies.
Four welcomed year ticks, particularly the Woodlark, top birds that are not common at all at WALBOC. Typically, they turned up on the day that my camera chose not to work. Please note, if you are thinking of having a look for these birds they were not found on the main Ockham Common but on what is referred to as Ockham Common south of Boldermere (see patch map)
WALBOC Patchlist: 89
WALBOC Yearlist: 72
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