A lovely bright sunny day forecast and in the main it lived up to expectations. I visited Warren House on Dartmoor just for the hell of it really. Who knows what you might bump in to? There were a few showers around and it is always a bit more extreme out there on the moor but I am glad to say the sunshine continued and it was a glorious bright sunshiny day as the song goes.

So my walk began and as I progressed I began to feel the weight of disappointment starting to hit. There was absolute stoney silence, not a “dickie bird” to be heard or seen. I continued on down and paused at the top of the valley above the ruins of the old farm. In the summer this had been teeming with birds of all species including Dartford Warbler and Whinchat so I couldn’t believe how still and seemingly empty it was. Then after a scan around the bushes below I saw movement then flight! Yes, I was not alone after all. The first bird turned out to be a Green Woodpecker, he wasn’t going to hang around, they never do but then in the hawthorn bushes I could see first one, then more and in the end dozens of Fieldfare. It was my first look at them this season, they are a winter visitors from Scandanavia and a smashing addition to our winter bird population. I managed to get a bit closer but not very near, 50 mtrs was the nearest they would allow. But I am sure if there was time I could have sat it out and they would have come quite close. They were feeding on the Hawthorn Berries. You may remember that I mentioned yesterday that the bushes are heavily laden this year. I am really taken with theses piccies, the lichen encrusted branches contrasting with the red berries makes a real artistic image.

They were eventually disturbed by the almost inevitable dog walker, and quite predictably the dog had a snap at me, the birds disappeared “into the hills” and I called it a day.