This was the scene that greeted me this morning. I was rather late as we had been over Exmoor yesterday and I'm not as fit as I was 50 years ago - when I thought nothing of wandering up and down those hills and valley sides all day.
I set a couple of 60's; one was in the usual place in the orchard and the other through a bed of Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens). It was a fairly fruitful session with 15 new birds and 7 retraps, covering 9 species. I packed up after 2 hours as the tractor came in to maxi-bale the hay. It did encourage the Swallows to fly low - alas, my single panels were still in the chest of drawers!
Scoreboard:
Kingfisher (1) - juv fem.
Blue Tit 5 - most were too high over (thank God)
Great Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 1
Chiffchaff 1 (3) - r/ts from 6th, 14th & 29th.
Blackcap 4 - no retraps & only 2 with any fat [1 with F30]
Sedge Warbler 1 - a juv, naturally
Blackbird 1 (2)
Goldfinch 1 (1) - juv & ad. male r/t
Meanwhile, the Badgers have been "making hay". Much new bedding has been snitched from the nearest swath and bundles of it were apparent close to all of the many entrances to the (summer) sett.
As the rollers on the harvester now have 'crimpers' these days [it crushes the grass, opening the waxy case and allows quicker drying] it was no surprise to see the baler behind the tractor today, 2 days after the cut. This activity made me pack up whilst they were baling the two eastern meadows; it wouldn't be long before it came over my side of the stream. By lunch-time, most of the bales were already off-site and safely in store for the sheep and horses.
Other birds around the site - 4 Buzzards, Green Sand, 2 Heron, Dipper, 80-100 Swallow, 6 House Martins and 2 Little Egberts.
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