Golden Plover, the Easy Way

A nice frosty morning before work, and a chance to try out my new cheap ALDI-bought scope - you can't go wrong for £25! I planned to get some decent views and hopefully footage of the Golden Plover flock that have been in the fields around Lamin's Lane, so I headed out that way at the crack of dawn.

First up was a singing male Song Thrush in the top of a tree at the Three Ponds, with another feeding on the ground nearby. Main Gate had been rammed by a car, which was dumped and torched just along the track to Woodside Liveries. I did ponder whether to take a photo of it, but soon came to my senses. Heading out to the junction on Lamin's Lane, seven Redwing were on the telephone wires, and a male and female Bullfinch were in the hedgerows.

There was no sign of anything in the fields, but a couple of distant waders flew over high up. I headed down the road to the right at the junction and spotted some movement in the fallow field where the Lapwings usually are. The ground was frosted over and the light was still dim, but I'd located a small group of ten Golden Plover wandering about not far from the hedge. I set up the scope and camera for reasonable footage, whilst the odd car and van went past. After about twenty minutes of playing around with various settings and getting frozen in the process, I packed up and started to head back.

I spotted another Golden Plover by itself in the field on the other side of the road, but even closer. Too bad that I'd already packed up. A Skylark was singing overhead, and I also got good views of the Bullfinch pair and a male Yellowhammer (year tick) from the gate of Lamin Plantation. In the woodland there were plenty of Siskin calling in the tree tops around the Three Ponds, and three Great Spotted Woodpecker, including one just ten feet from me at knee height, bashing away at a dead birch tree. Two Jay and a single Nuthatch were here too, and I was starting to wish I had more hours of daylight before having to go to work.