Started off with the sight of three birds circling high over the country to the south of Ashburton, very much in the way of buzzards but with the long crook wings of seagulls. Some of the pictures offered by Google show peregrine falcons with such wings and you do get them in Devon, but maybe seagull is more likely. The nearest we got to a confirmed raptor was hearing owls a couple of times in the night.
Then there was a pair of suburban goldfinches, several sparrows, male & female, house & tree, and one woodland chaffinch. None of which are very common in Epsom. Plus the usual crows, magpies and pigeons.
We closed the outing with a buzzard and a second unidentified hawk over Fleet Services, but that was not parts west. Unusually, no kestrels at all.
PS: the scene illustrated shows that Epsom Council is not the only lot to go in for free range cows, with those in this picture only being prevented from visiting the nearby pub by strategically placed cattle grids in the road. At least Devon County Council can point to the grazing rights on Dartmoor, rights which have been continuously exercised since before the time of the Conqueror. And feeling obliged to let other people graze is far less blameworthy than going in for it oneself, gratuitously.
No comments:
Post a Comment