Thursday, 12 March 2020

Canons Farm and Epson and Walton Downs - Tales of Two Farms!


I set out fairly early this morning to cover two areas of farmland Canons Farm and Epsom and Walton Downs. The later had farmer Giles’s out ploughing fields which was attracting the local corvids a few gulls and a Red Kite which had been drawn in by the swirling masses. This activity had also solved the puzzle of why there was not a single gull on the racecourse!
I was also experimenting with the ebird android app which allows you to record bird sightings on the move and I must say is very user friendly and even plots your route which is shown on the sightings page at the end of the outing! They just need to sort out the worlds recording boundaries Rep of Georgia in Asia and Whiskered Tern on my Surrey list… Errm I don’t think so!  
I bumped into a couple of Red Legged Partridge and decided to follow them as they scarpered up the hill. I lost sight of them to flush a Woodcock that was sitting on the edge of the tree line separating fields. I wonder if this is the same bird that I had flushed from the edge of the now ploughed field!

Canons Farm was pretty non-eventful with a couple of good sized flocks of Linnet. Bog field is still flooded and I guess it’s only a matter of time before a shorebird pitches up there but I guess that requires a stupid o clock start before the bird moves on at the sight of the first dog!

A good day with a general thumbs up for ebird!

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