Back to Basics

So after the giddy "Kid in a sweetie shop" effect of visiting Slimbridge last week it was more than a welcome relief to get back to a bit of patch birding this weekend.
On Saturday I visited HARTPURY ORCHARD CENTRE at around 10:30am.
What an absolute joy it was - to be sat in the cold, draughty hide with a flask of Yorkshire Tea ......... and a complete lack of "serious" birders around, showing off their latest flashy photographic equipment and Khaki trousers.
Oh....... and a complete lack of birds!
Well, to be fair there were 2 Mute Swans gingerly picking their way through the frosty water.

View from the hide today. Note teeming bird life.

But you know what? It was bloody lovely. The sun was shining and I felt that air of anticipaion again. Oh boy, it was good to be back.
A walk along the reedbeds revealed 4 Snipe....  and not much else.
So a particularly quiet morning, even by my standards.
No matter, I thought. I'll move on. So without further ado I relocated myself to Mill Lane, just outside the village of Staunton. To my delight the large flock of buntings was still present in the stubble field. I estimated around 80 birds overall, evenly split between Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings.
Many of the birds were spread along the tops of the neatly trimmed hedgerows. This photo shows a small section. Times it by 20 and you get an idea of how it looked!

Bunting hedge

Male Reed Bunting - head tucked in - windy day!

On Sunday I returned to the ORCHARD CENTRE at around 11am to meet up with birding buddy Alan. It was very quiet on the ponds again, even the swans were absent. However a walk around the site revealed a few hidden gems: 8 Snipe, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 20+ Redwing, a Goldcrest, 7 Goldfinches and around 20 Long-Tailed Tits. We also enjoyed the site of 2 healthy and well groomed Foxes playing together. These were superb looking animals with gorgeous coats and tails - so different to the photos you see of those scrawny town foxes.
Just as we were about to leave we noticed a couple of small birds in the top of a silver birch tree. Well, I'll be blowed..... Lesser Redpolls ( too far off for a decent photo). A patch first and No.73 on the Orchard Centre life-list I think.
Ker-ching!