Back to Brookfield

After yesterday's sun filled day packed with ottery goodness it was back to more routine sort of fare today. Leaving the house with the now almost traditional Sunday grey skies I headed over to Brookfield Plantation where I arrived just in time for the now familiar rain. Such unpleasant conditions thankfully did not last too long and some welcome blue skies put in an appearance.

Brookfield Ride.

While the wildlife didn't quite hit the heights of yesterday it was still interesting enough. Brookfield is one of the quietest places in the town and it makes listening for bird calls that little bit easier. Coal Tits and Goldcrests were perhaps the commoner species as you might expect in a conifer plantation but there were plenty of other tits too including Marsh. Nuthatches are a relatively new arrival to the wood so it was good to hear a couple today. Of the finches noted it was Siskins that were perhaps the more interesting. Several parties were encountered during my walk though this is traditionally a good site for this species.

More Brookfield views.

Ravens are a recent success story and their recolonization of Northamptonshire is one the most welcome features of the last few years. I saw some of my first in Brookfield just after their reappearance and it's always good to encounter them here. A calling bird alerted me to an overflying bird as it headed over in the direction of Kirby Hall. What counts as a bit of a site rarity, Mistle Thrush, was a good find with one singing bird and another doing the ratchet call as it passed over.

Goldcrest and Peregrine pair.

A few Fallow Deer were seen but there was little else of interest during my walk through the wood. On the way home I checked one of the local sites and eventually found a Peregrine after some scanning. I concentrated on trying to get some presentable records shots of the bird and in doing so I'm embarrassed to say that I completely failed to see another bird just a metre or two away from the original one. It was only while checking the pics at home that the presence of the other came to light - oops! What makes it worst is that I really thought that I'd given the area a thorough going over, what else do I miss in the course of a day?