BARWICK VILLAGE AND PAVYOTTS LANE
WEATHER: a bright, sunny morning, very cold with a light breeze. Temp 3C
We had a cloudless blue sky first thing and we intended to make the most of it. Dawn had to nip into town for some essential shopping, so it was nearly 10am by the time we set off for our daily walk.
OK! so its another picture of a Redwing, its all I have for today
Our today was through Barwick village, keeping to the lanes as the tracks were still very muddy after all the rain of this week. We decided to avoid crossing the fields and so as we emerged from Barwick we walked through Rex’s Hollow then across the A37 into Pavyott’s Lane. Along the way we saw both Pied and Grey Wagtails on a heap of cow manure in a field that was littered with Redwings and Blackbirds. The hedgerows along the lane and through the village held all the common garden species such as Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Collared Dove, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits.
the muddy field on the right was full of Lapwings and a few Golden Plover
From the gateway of a field we looked south-eastward into a cow field which held about 100 Lapwings, viewing was quite poor as we were looking directly into the sunlight. However, we did manage to pick out 5 Golden Plovers, a dozen Pied Wagtails and a flock of Starlings. The potato field behind us held a multitude of birds, Redwings, Fieldfares, Meadow Pipits, Song Thrushes, Starlings, Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws and a few Pied Wagtails. The ploughed edges of the field held mixed finch flocks, we picked out Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and a few Reed Buntings. The usual flock of some 200 Linnets could not be found.
Dawn's picture of the track that leads you up to Yeovil
We walked further along the lane to the maize stubble field where a huge amount of manure was being stored in readiness for spreading over the field during ploughing, In this field there were even more birds, a lot more Fieldfares with the Redwings also a couple of Buzzards and more Starlings.
Dawn's landscape picture looking southeast from Pavyots Lane
The route on our return journey was virtually the same as the outbound walk. It produced much of the same species, the entire walk lasted 2 ½ hours and covered less than 4 miles, we got home in good time for lunch. I watched the feeders in the afternoon and added Coal Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker to the day list. My 80th species for the year is still out there but refuses to turn up, I think I am going to have to walk to Sutton Bingham when the tracks dry out a little more.
