A Walk to the Village

Dec1/15 Hewelsfield Common UK.

Whenever I am in the UK I try to visit the local charity shops for birding books. Believe it or not there is often a better selection than in traditional bookstores. This time I found a real beauty. For the princely of 4 quid (pounds) I picked up Birds and Men (ISBN 1870630 14 9)
There is a great chapter about how humans have shaped nature in Britain and how robins have taken advantage of the changes. Once a heavily wooded land, the countryside is now made up of farms, gardens, orchards, fields and parks. This has allowed the robin and other species to proliferate. It's a great read as I sit overlooking an English country garden waiting for rain and wind to blow over.
After the jet lag had worn off I walked to the village to pick-up the paper. The pace of life here is a little slower and a welcome break from all the rushing around back in the Lower Mainland. I could have taken the car but I wouldn't have seen as many birds. It didn't take me long to find my first robin, first one then another. Later I read in the book that robins require at at least an acre of territory which they will defend to the death. Anyway, I'll be reading about birds more than actually birding so until then here are a few shots from my afternoon ramble. I have posted the list on eBird.

Robin

                                                                     More about the area

Long-tailed Tit. One of the Britain's smallert birds

Hudnalls Woods, Gloucestershire, England, GB

Dec 1, 2015 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 kilometer(s)
Comments:     This area is mixed decidious forest, open fields and ancient hedgerows.
21 species (+1 other taxa)

Ring-necked Pheasant  5
Common Buzzard  1
Mew Gull  5
Common Wood-Pigeon  12
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker  0
Great Spotted Woodpecker  2
Eurasian Jay  1  
Eurasian Magpie  7
Eurasian Jackdaw  2
Carrion Crow  41
Eurasian Blue Tit  8
Great Tit  12
Long-tailed Tit  11
Eurasian Nuthatch  1
Eurasian Wren  1
European Robin  6
Eurasian Blackbird  8
Dunnock  4
Gray Wagtail  1

 Pied Wagtail 3

Common Chaffinch  12
European Goldfinch  3
House Sparrow  2

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26102163

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

:It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada