Three Shelduck appeared on Monday and were still swimming around today. I had time to check the main pit and also the smaller pits and the western end. These rarely have anything of note, but I counted 158 Coot on the Crown Plaza/ski pit, which is quite a good number and by far the commonest bird on the lake.
I also took a short walk in Emmett's fields to the north of the main pit. I have seen very little here on past visits, but it does hold a few Yellowhammer, Skylarks and Linnets and I had three Stonechats and a Wheatear in the Autumn. It was also the site of last year's Pale-bellied Brent Goose, which was only the second county record. Anyway, today didn't look too promising and the only birds seen on the short walk north from the farm were five Greenfinches in the hedge and a few Linnets flying over. That was until I approached the pheasant cover. Glancing through the stems of corn at a recently cut area on the far side, I noticed two small blobs and was surprised to find a pair of Grey Partridge sitting there. They remained in the same spot whilst I tried to grab a record shot, though this was made difficult as I was looking through the corn stems, playing havoc with the auto focus. It was also very gloomy.
I do wonder where these birds come from, as I thought they had died out from this area. There are so many shoots around and thousands of Red-legged Partridge are put down for these, so maybe some Greys are as well, although I have read that Greys are difficult to breed and aren't normally put down for shoots. I did see a covey of 21 birds in October 2012 about five miles away, though they were in an area where many Red legs are put down, so who knows. Whatever their origin, they are the first Greys I have seen on patch and am happy to add them to my list.
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