Thursday 27 September 2012

Get in the Hole

A mid morning visit to Ivinghoe Beacon then Incombe Hole.
When I left home it was quite a miserable day, cloudy with light rain. But as the day wore on it turned into a very pleasant but quite windy day. A walk along the Beacon nothing much about with exeption of; Linnet, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit, Buzzard, Swallow, Skylark. However, on studying some scrub to the west of the Trig Point I noticed something interesting flitting about. On closer inspection it was a Redstart. It showed briefly before skulking off deep into the scrub. I searched for a further half an hour but no joy.
From the Beacon I headed over to Steps Hill and Incombe Hole. I made my way down into the hole but not much doing except a Buzzard and then a Raven overhead. When I reached the far end of Incombe Hole I noticed an interesting bird fly up onto a bush deep in some scrub. I could not get a decent view and almost immediately it appeared to fly out of the hole towards the sheep pens. I did get a flash of red as it flew. I made my way towards the sheep pens and almost straight away connected with a Redstart. It flew from a bush near the sheep pens to the hedgerow and fenceline. It then made it's way back along the hedgerow towards Incombe Hole before finally disappearing back from where it had come from. Interestingly a Chiffchaff was in close attendance the whole time even dropping onto the ground with the Redstart. (oops nearly put "hole time" unintentional pun!). On my way back to the car I noted a Red Kite and then what appeared to be 2 female Sparrowhawk locking talons briefly before disappearing out of sight below the ridge.
The first of my top quality pics is the Redstart on Ivinghoe Beacon then the next few another Redstart this time close to Incombe Hole near the sheep pens and finally a Chiffchaff in Incombe Hole. Look closely at the third image below and you'll notice the Chiffchaff in close attendance.








No comments:

Post a Comment