On Friday morning, Richard Crossen, Richard Ellis, Bob Haycock and myself carried out a coordinated count of the farmland birds using the fields at Gupton Farm (near Freshwater West). Although many of our wintering birds are yet to arrive, we recorded more than 3350 birds using the fields, with mixed flocks of Linnets, Goldfinches and Reed Buntings in the margins of most weedy maize and cereal stubbles.
The most numerous species on the site were Starling (2000+), Carrion Crow (66), Jackdaw (1000+), Chaffinch (257), Curlew (44), Goldfinch (433), Linnet (620), Reed Bunting (65), Rook (60), Skylark (106). The wintering Lapwing flock is just starting to build with just 55 birds present, and only five Golden Plovers were seen. Obviously these numbers are likely to undergo a marked increase in the next few weeks....... I look forward to the results from the next count day at the end of November.
