11 Jan 22

Out and About

Today it was a trip to Bodenham Hospital in Wiltshire, for Dawn's key-hole surgery on her shoulder. As she was going to be in for several hours, it seemed to a good idea to have a walk around the local countryside until she came out.

And so it proved to be, bird-wise, though the continuous drizzle and the mud Ted and I had to wade through at times was a bit much at times. The photos of Ted tell the tale.

The walk was 5 miles and took me through the villages of Nunton, Odstock and Bodenham, three farms, the River Avon, the River Ebble, mixed farming of crops and livestock, and mixed woodland. The centre point is roughly Here.

New birds for my 2022 UK list were: Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch, Redpoll and Greenfinch


Mammals Recorded:
3 Roe Deer

Roe Deer, a Stag and two does.

Birds Recorded:
1 Little Grebe
5 Little Egret
2 Grey Heron
6 Mute Swan
2 Mallard
2 Buzzard
Pheasant
Moorhen
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull
Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
1 Green Woodpecker
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Dunnock

Robin
Blackbird
10+ Fieldfare
50+ Redwing
Song Thrush
2 Mistle Thrush
1 Chiffchaff
8+ Goldcrest
Long-tailed Tit
Coal Tit

Great Tit
Blue Tit
Nuthatch
Wren
Magpie
Rook
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
1 Raven
Starling

House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Redpoll
Siskin
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Bullfinch

Species: 47

Two egrets and a cow. Cattle Egrets!! Sadly no, these are Little Egrets and there were 5 in total.

A pair of Mute Swans on the River Avon

In the fields close to the river were these two drake Mallards.

Just a handful of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls I came across today. In amongst are a few Herring Gulls.

My first Greenfinch of the year.

General Shots:

A few footpath gates were an issue to negotiate.

The broken post, fallen tree and damaged fence were the result of a vehicle crashing into them. The gate though was still intact but in-operative.

The Church of St Mary at Odstock, with one section believed to be 12th century More on this church Here.

Ted:

A before shot of Ted before the walk

Halfway round

Knee deep in mud and slurry

And sat in the car wondering why on earth I dragged him through all that mud. What Ted doesn't know is that tomorrow is pamper day at the groom room. He will certainly be a lot  cleaner and whiter than he is here.