This week the wind
has taken me back to Epsom Downs where I linked up with Steve Gale during a
roost watch.
The area is still loaded with berries, which brings in good
numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare not to mention the resident Blackbirds that
are having a feast fit for kings. There was also plenty of talk about likely rarities
that could be found on the fields and in the patches of woodland!
I was also introduced to the Langley Vale area
of the downs which is the site of a 3.8km Month of Remembrance memorial walk
commemorating the centenary of the end of the First World War.
I returned the next
morning to have a more thorough look in this area. There were still remnants of
fog on the downs which had its usual scattering of mainly Herring gulls. The
gulls feed by stamping their feet in the slightly longer grass on the racetrack
this disturbs insects and the odd worm which has ventured too close to the
surface.
I took a reverse
route starting at the group of trees that held the Jackdaw roost the previous
evening. A Coal Tit was spied in a mixed tit flock during the walk across to
the racecourse gallops.
The route across the
fields was also busy with feeding corvids, pigeons and a group of female
pheasants. A Sparrowhawk had ventured too close to a group of Ring necked
Parakeets who unceremoniously saw the bird off!
Great Spotted
Woodpecker was very vocal en route with one bird particularly obliging at the
top of a tree.
As the morning
progressed bird activity dwindled as a result of more unsettled weather but
there was plenty of time to take in sections of the Walk and place thoughts on
a place of remembrance.
There were
interpretation boards along the route which described the part local people
took in the war many paying the ultimate sacrifice as a result!
This area is definitely
catching my imagination and will serve as an additional area to keep my eye on when I return from down under!
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