Peddars Way (Little Cressingham/Great Cressingham) late afternoon

After a foggy morning the day was very grey with plenty of cloud and poor light.  Light never improved when I walked along a short length of the Peddars Way between Little and Great Cressingham from about mid-afternoon.
A check of a recently harvested field of sugar beet which is now grazed by sheep produced 5 Grey Partridges.  One of these birds was watched closely and photographed as it nipped at edges of leaves and weeds.  Grey Partridges are now scarce and declining birds in the UK. 


Grey Partridge (one of 5) at Little Cressingham 10/12/13

 

The Grey Partridge is a clearly more distinctive then the very numerous Red-legged Partridge, a species which is raised in their thousands for the shoot.  The brick-red head area and throat lacks stripes which straight away separates this species from the Red-legged Partridge.  As seen in the above photograph the breast is very neatly vermiculated, this leads into the solid dark brown patches on the belly.
Walking for a short distance north along the Peddars Way, I noticed that the hedgerows had recently been cut, here, several Bullfinches were encountered giving their piping call as they flew ahead of me.
A flock of 60+ Goldfinches flew overhead and a short while later, a small flock of about 20+ Linnets were seen.    
Back at the car, I was preparing to leave when I looked up and saw 2 large groups of Lapwings (total of 1000+ birds) flying in mostly long drawn out lines across the sky in a westerly heading.