Saturday, September 05, 2009
A Ridgeway Walk
The first interruption to our walk came on the track down to West Ilsley, with a flock of vocal, mobile yellow wagtails on the narrow field running along Sheep Down: I reckoned at least twenty.
I saw September redstarts here in 2007 and 2008, so when I heard a distant "hoo-eet" I began to scan the hawthorns - but got only brief glimpses of the bird. Greger sat down resignedly and poured himself a cup of coffee.Eventually the redstart flew onto the fence and I grabbed a record shot - which, though bad, is better than the view I had at the time.
There were still lots of house martins and swallows round Down Barn; and as we came up to the Ridgeway again, two ravens took to the air calling.
A woman approaching on horseback with two small children on ponies asked us what the large black birds were. As they continued on their way, I heard one of the children say plaintively "I told you they were ravens!"
Plodding up the hill towards Catmore, we saw movement in the big field to the right and three wheatears were picked out with difficulty on the rough ground. There was possibly also a whinchat present.
There were still lots of house martins and swallows round Down Barn; and as we came up to the Ridgeway again, two ravens took to the air calling.
A woman approaching on horseback with two small children on ponies asked us what the large black birds were. As they continued on their way, I heard one of the children say plaintively "I told you they were ravens!"// posted by Christine @ 10:31 AM 
