During the first lockdown, my birding was almost totally confined to SD46M – which I have named Morecambe North. After lockdown eased I did venture further afield in Lancashire and Cumbria, mostly inside LDBWS area, but I still tried to keep a check on what I now regarded as my patch. With the return of restrictions we are back to our exercise walk along the Prom and through Happy Mount Park.
A few of us have been concentrating on HMP and are reporting our sightings to the Park people. My own list since 23 March 2020 is of 52 species seen in or over the Park.
My year list for 2021, all in this tetrad, is now 45, of which 32 have been seen in the Park. Today added great spotted woodpecker – the first I have had in the Park since September – long-tailed tits (6) and song thrush (2). There have been occasional flurries of excitement since March – a grey wagtail hanging around on and off since September, a tree sparrow on two occasions, once a spotted flycatcher on migration – but generally it is regular, routine stuff.
Today we had singing woodpigeon and collared dove (both been at it for some time now), a great tit again and, first time today, snatches of song from dunnock. The tit flocks of earlier in the winter have changed – blue, great and coal tits seem to be in pairs and not with a general flock any more, while the long-tailed tits are still in a bunch of 6 birds. Th treecreeper and goldcrest are no longer associating with a tit flock but wandering more generally on their own. We regularly have 14 blackbirds in the Park at present.
Jeff B
(Tetrad SD45M consists SD4465, 4464, 4565, 4564)
