Rather annoyingly I slept in late this morning, I rarely sleep in and for me waking up at just after 0800, well, the day is over as I generally like to be out long before sunrise. I thought to myself that there was no point hurrying now so I took my time to have my first coffee of the morning and I eventually left home at around 0945.
Almost 300 acres of land at Thompson is now in the ownership of the Woodland Trust, the transformation of farmland into broadleaved woodland is currently in its very early days, and the habitat as it presents now is of open country with wide woodland rides. The land intended for tree planting is at the current time fields of short grasses and weeds which is well suited to Larks and Finches. There is a long and mixed hedgerow alongside a footpath and there are peripheral fields intended for grazing.
My visit this morning began with a diminutive Goldcrest foraging in a hedge of Ivy, a very active little bird in its search for food.
A long and mixed hedgerow alongside a footpath held lots of birds, as did the surrounding fields. An initial view from distance revealed lots of Linnets in the fields, the numbers eventually would be very notable. As I slowly approached this open habitat I saw an estimated 300+ Linnets wandering the fields, many would use the hedgerow to drop down to a puddle where they would bathe. There was probably in excess of 100+ Skylarks present along with good numbers of Meadow Pipits and 150+ Starlings too.
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| Meadow Pipit 16 November 2025 |
A very welcome 3 Woodlarks passed by and alighted on an area of grassland, the habitat as it looks at the current time is well suited to this species. Just a single Reed Bunting was seen in a hedgerow.
I made my way to a large grass field with lots of tall weeds and patches of ground covering scrub, here I searched for Stonechat and eventually found a distant ♂ bird typically perched on the topmost parts of weeds.
Walking back along the long hedgerow the impressive very large flock of Linnets continued to wander the fields with both Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. Also in the hedgerow my second Stonechat of the morning used the topmost part of a hedge and fencing to watch from.
Having got back to my start point I thought having that unintended lay in wasn't so bad after all given the wonderful birdlife I encountered.
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