The bird species count at Honeydale is rising. Elliot is still supplementary feeding with 10kg of seed every day, and this week he spotted a woodcock, a native farmland bird which likes wet and semi-wooded land, and has never been seen at the farm before. It’s presence takes the tally of bird species at Honeydale up to a pleasing 73.
Other native farmland birds currently residing at Honeydale include a small flock of meadow pipits in the wildflower meadow. The resident stonechat which has made a home at the top of the farm has now been joined by three pairs which can regularly be spotted by the lake. And heard too. Their distinctive call, does indeed sound like two stones knocking together and ‘chattering’. The large numbers of song thrushes are more melodious. We’re not sure if these are residents or migrants but other migrants are now definitely on the move. We had several hundred fieldfares overwintering at Honeydale but numbers of these have now dwindled as they head back to Scandinavia. There are lots of bullfinches, bold little birds which cheekily came too close for Elliot to photograph! (He only had a zoom lens with him.) Yellowhammers, goldfinches and chaffinches are regularly feeding on the plots and Blue tits, Great Tits, Robins and Blackbirds are feasting on the tree feeders on a daily basis.
