Sunlight over the fields seen from Within Way 140223
The weather forecast had promised another beautiful sunny day, so I had made plans to re-visit Within Way and Hale Shore; however, the morning dawned cold, grey and misty – but I still went out, wondering if much would be visible. Luckily, the sun did struggle through from time to time.
Within Way is always a fantastic place for birds and this morning, even in the dull, cold conditions, was no exception. Just past the farm, there’s a track where a local birdwatcher puts down plenty of seed to keep the little birds going through the winter. It’s usually a great spot to stand and try and pick out brambling or twite amongst the finch flock, but there wasn’t a bird on the ground; they were all twittering away from a tree a few metres away – not even one of the ones overhanging the seed. A frantic flapping of wings behind me hinted at why: a collared dove danced quickly out of the way of a kestrel, which swooped up to a tree above the feeding area. A beautiful young female, she perched amongst the catkins, occasionally scratching herself absentmindedly, whilst I stood and admired her from my spot next to the hedge. It was clear that she was there to stay, so I moved on – there are more feeding stations and hence more finches further down Within Way, and hopefully they would provide more interest.
Finch feeding area – no finches because a kestrel is waiting for them – Within Way 140223
And so it proved: the twittering of a good-sized flock could be heard from quite far away but, before I reached it, scanning one of the fields I spotted a large grey lump amongst the patchy grass and dark soil. Grey partridge! A year tick – and a nice bird to see as well. They are usually in pairs, or small groups called ‘coveys’, and sure enough there was another, even harder to see, hunkered down next to it. The finch flock behind them was very nervous, swooping down en masse and then lifting up again as soon as it saw movement, and there were a few dog walkers about, so I kept going, down to the last feeding station, where again there were plenty of birds, but nothing out of the ordinary that I could see.
Along the shore, there were plenty of gulls, ducks and waders feeding on invertebrates and other creatures hidden in the nourishing estuary mud. It was especially lovely to see and hear a flock of whistling wigeon bobbing on the water. There was quite an apocalyptic feel to the view with the grey sky, clouds and water, and the wind turbines and factories lurking in the distance.
Apocalyptic feel at Hale Shore 140223
Walking back up Lighthouse Lane, I bumped into a fellow birder and writer, and we had a pleasant chat about the nature-writing course we were on (it’s fab – Nicola Chester’s ‘Bedwine and Foxwise’ in collaboration with Spelt magazine – definitely one to check out if it runs again), and how our writing is going. The sun was just starting to appear and she was off to take some photos of the estuary, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The river was waiting for her, and the allotment birds for me. Another lovely morning spent in nature – how lucky we are to have these places where wildlife still thrives.
Hale lighthouse as the sun appears 140223
Birds seen (40 species): blackbird, black-headed gull, black-tailed godwit, blue tit, Canada geese, chaffinch, carrion crow, collared dove, cormorant, curlew, dunnock, feral pigeon, goldfinch, great black-backed gull, great tit, grey partridge, herring gull, house sparrow, kestrel, lesser black-backed gull, little egret, linnet, long-tailed tit, magpie, mallard, oystercatcher, pink-footed geese, redwing, redshank, reed bunting, ringed plover, robin, shelduck, skylark, song thrush, starling, teal, wigeon, woodpigeon, wren
A note on grey partridge: a once-common species on open arable land, the bird is now red listed as its numbers are rapidly declining – which has been linked to agricultural intensification, particularly herbicide and pesticide use, which means fewer chicks survive as there is less food available, and the disappearance of ‘unkempt’ field boundaries. In fact, the bird experienced a 92% decline between 1967 and 2020 (https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/grey-partridge), and this trend needs to be reversed. Farmers need to be encouraged to leave field margins uncultivated, set aside land on a rotational basis, reduce the spraying of herbicides/pesticides, and sow wild bird seed mixes – and this needs to be at policy level, not just left up to individual farmers.
A good view of grey partridge:
Grey partridge – image by david galavan, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The usual view of grey partridge:
Grey partridge – image by Mike Pennington/Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix), Altcar Moss via Wikimedia Commons