Annie watched a firecrest as it moved
along the hedgerow with a goldcrest in front of our house near Martletwy this morning. This was
probably the first one that either of us has seen at this location. It also makes
us wonder just how many firecrests there are in the general neighbourhood.
We checked the Withybush pied wagtail roost this evening. Pre-roosting birds were spread-out along the roofs. We estimated at least 350 but they were quite hard to count against the dark background. Wagtail numbers coming to roost seemed to be lower than in previous winters, but we could not see all the roofs from our viewpoint.
The starling roost at Slebech has been in full swing for some weeks now. We’ve not tried to estimate numbers yet, but very large flocks have been seen heading along the valley from H/west or from the north at dusk in recent weeks. Most days, quite a few also head south over Martletwy soon after dawn.