Water Pipit
Saturday 3rd November 2007
On a fine, sunny morning I made for Ashleworth Ham to look for the Water Pipit. I was fortunate enough to arrive at the Meerend Thicket hide and see it within a few minutes, at 9:15am. It showed on the marshy area twice for about 10 minutes before it suddenly flew up, apparently chasing off a Meadow Pipit, but after over an hour it didn't re-appear. Also from the hide, six Snipe, a Little Grebe, a male Stonechat, a Grey Wagtail, two Pied Wagtails, 8+ Meadow Pipits, a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, three Long-tailed Tits, two Blue Tits, two Grey Herons and c150 Fieldfares with at least one Redwing. There was also flock of 400+ Starlings around the pylons towards the river. I later went to look for two Great Grey Shrikes seen earlier at the bottom of Stank Lane. No luck with them but Neil Smart had spotted a pale bird among the Starling flock. This bird was a very distinctive, and much lighter in colour, almost beige, compared to the individuals in the rest of the flock.
On a fine, sunny morning I made for Ashleworth Ham to look for the Water Pipit. I was fortunate enough to arrive at the Meerend Thicket hide and see it within a few minutes, at 9:15am. It showed on the marshy area twice for about 10 minutes before it suddenly flew up, apparently chasing off a Meadow Pipit, but after over an hour it didn't re-appear. Also from the hide, six Snipe, a Little Grebe, a male Stonechat, a Grey Wagtail, two Pied Wagtails, 8+ Meadow Pipits, a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, three Long-tailed Tits, two Blue Tits, two Grey Herons and c150 Fieldfares with at least one Redwing. There was also flock of 400+ Starlings around the pylons towards the river. I later went to look for two Great Grey Shrikes seen earlier at the bottom of Stank Lane. No luck with them but Neil Smart had spotted a pale bird among the Starling flock. This bird was a very distinctive, and much lighter in colour, almost beige, compared to the individuals in the rest of the flock.
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