Thrushes Galore!

They're everywhere on patch at the moment, in almost every lush green field you care to look at. Bearing that in mind, this morning I decided it was about time I tried to get them on my patch photo yearlist. The first place I tried was Bridge Marsh where there were indeed oodles of them but alas, all pretty distant. I wasn't too worried about it though because there were also a couple of massive flocks of Golden Plovers roosting there. I started to count the birds in one of them but only got to a couple of hundred before they set off north up the Axe Valley for a day's feeding. Still, that couple of hundred was only about a third of the one flock and the other  flock was of more or less equal size. So at least a thousand then. Incredible! Well it is relatively speaking as we only usually get a couple of individuals a year. I took a couple of photos of the flock I was counting and stitched them together thus...

 Less than half the Golden Plovers roosting on Bridge Marsh this morning... I hear the flock has increased to around 5,000 this evening!

Leaving for a day's feeding.

After enjoying the spectacle of the Golden Plover flocks I headed off to the fields around Musbury in search of photograph-able Redwings and Fieldfares. I had a lovely walk and saw thousands of Thrushes but didn't get any photos other than a couple of flight shots (a challenge to say the least!) they were just too flighty, flushing even when I was walking along the lanes behind the hedges. I got my photos later in the morning though at Seaton Skate Park of all places!

No30. Song Thrush

No.31. Redwing

 

No32. Fieldfare

While on my walk I also stumbled upon a small group of Roe Deer. Wasn't really fast enough with the camera but I like this one of the buck.....

... Not the best quality but look at those lovely velvety antlers...I want to touch them!