Army Ornithological SocietySPTA West
In Imber the Warriors had taken up all round defence however a Merlin with prey clutched in its claws was having none ot it as it sped past. It has been a cold and windy start to the month and at times there were few birds. That said at a small wood about a km from NZ Farm there were over 200 Chaffinches mainly on the ground looking through the beech mast. Nearby a pair of Stonechats were surveying their territory. In fact I have seen quite a few pairs this month across the area. Early in the month I gave a talk to the Wiltshire Ornithological Society about the area and am expecting quite a number for the walk at the end of the month. Hopefully we will see some of the more specialist birds. The Starling mumuration has reached at least 500k birds at the COTEC site and the other day at the Signpost by Bombard OP I watched a male Hen Harrier and a Merlin for at least half an hour. There have been plenty of Kestrels about as well as Buzzards. I have also seen a ringtail near NZ Farm heading to the Centre. The whole area is covered with Fieldfares and Redwings that number hundreds in the size of flocks. The scrubby area at Imber Firs was covered in them. Fishhook provided 8 Woodcock yesterday and there were 2 Snipe out in the open grass. The valleys and slopes to the east of Imber Copse have been cleared of scrub and only Meadow Pipits seem interested in it. I checked out the perimeter of the "Green Zone" and found 2 Chiffchaffs! There are plenty of tits around including Coal Tits in the dense area of firs. They have formed large flocks in the main as at the tank traps there was a single Long-tailed Tit! Wherever there are large flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares there is normally a pair of Mistle Thrushes lurking nearby. The highlight for me was when a Peregrine flew directly overhead at a few metres height; naturally I did not have my camera for this event. Anyway so far this month I have recorded 41 species on SPTA West.
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