Bramblings in the Lea Valley

23rd November 2021

Time for a wander around the local patch to see if any winter visitors are in yet. What was a nice surprise today was the number of mammals on parade starting with this rather superb Grey Squirrel and Muntjac. Although we are now into the second half of November, the white specs around the Muntjac's head are midges!!

On the farmland there were a dozen or so Fallow Deer which unlike their cousins kept in parkland are fairly jumpy and not very approachable. Most of the Fallow Deer in the wild are of the dark form and so it was nice to see a couple of the more traditional spotted form amongst them.

On this dark form you can just about see the remnants of the white spots................

...................and here is a comparison.

Unlike many other sites we have visited recently there seemed to be good numbers of birds around including this male Great Spotted Woodpecker, and on the way to Ashley Pit this Buzzard was keeping a close eye on us.

On Ashley Pit there were a number of Goosanders although most keeping their distance. This female was having a preen.

One of the males was still emerging from its moult but did give a wing-flap by way of compensation, and only one bird provided a reasonably close swim-past.

So now on to the finches. On the cover crop the Chaffinches were the dominant species in terms of numbers but were best photographed in the adjacent trees, as they normally fed out of sight on the ground.

As we arrived a huge flock of 150 Linnets flew over, but later on when there were still a few birds present they spent most of their time twittering at the backs of the trees out of sight. Only on a couple of occasions did they come to the front of the trees before dropping down into the crop.

But the stars of the show today were the Bramblings of which I would estimate there were just about double figures. However, most of the time they were fairly secretive and often the last to emerge from cover before dropping into the crop. This is exactly what they do in my garden before dropping on to the seed on the lawn.

The first two shots are of a female.

This is a male and once again the black specs on the photos are midges brought out by the unseasonable weather.

So once again a most enjoyable stroll around the Lea Valley just 20 minutes from home.