If you watch the Fast & Furious movies, you'll know that one of the major tenets of the various stories is 'the quarter mile' - the distance the various protagonists race to demonstrate the speed of their cars and their Machismo or Marianismo (yes, I didn't know there was a female equivalent either...) and so today, I did the quarter mile at Moore - on foot.
I had very little time and it was as much about grabbing a dry window to let the wee boy have a run with his favourite blue ball, as seriously looking for patch ticks. If I got any, bonus, but to be honest it was nice to get out in the fresh air for a bit. So, we parked up near Pumphouse and ambled up to the East Hide (Colin's), picking up what little there was in between scuffing said blue ball along the track and through the puddles so that the pooch could get wet and muddy and then hopefully snooze later.
The first thing we heard and saw were 13 Siskin and 7 Redwing in the alders near the gate to the Eastern Reedbed, along with a few Blue Tits, calling Long-tailed Tits and a single singing Goldcrest. Along the path past the Green Woodpecker view point sign that looks out over a scrubby area with pines on the east shore of Pumphouse, we got one 'yaffling' together with a Great Spotted Woodpecker 'chekking' in the distance, 2 Herring Gull and 2 Carrion Crow over west.
There were zero surprises on Pumphouse itself, although I forgot to 'predict' Shoveler, Moorhen and Grey Heron in my previous dismissal of a site visit this week on account of the weather... what was I thinking...
Pumphouse Pool (east hide) - 26 Gadwall, 6 Mallard, 14 Tufted Duck, 3 Shoveler, 15 Coot, 8 Black-headed Gull. 1 Grey Heron, 3 Moorhen
... and that was pretty much that. No Greenfinch. No Goldfinch. No Linnet. No Redpoll. Where ARE all the finches??
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