Took a trip to the Forest today. Parking at Great Berry Quarry I took a look at the beaver enclosure. There were several obstructions on the Greathough Brook that I would have liked to think were work in progress by the beavers but were more likely just debris from the recent storms. There was extensive evidence of wild boar activity along the fence, I hadn't seem any evidence of boar in this area on previous visits.
Facing the actual stone quarry are what appear to bt overgrown colliary spoil tips although I can't identify a mine at that precise location. These were striking because of the harts tongue ferns growning. These were only on the spoil and nowhere else in the area in which I walked.
Moving on the the Nags Head reserve I was lucky enough to get a redwing posing for me. I had just seen a flock of brownish birds two big for sparrows and too small for thrushes fly across but this individual stayed on a branch giving me an excellent view without using the glasses. I wasn't so lucky with the flash of green that could only have been a woodpecker although I did hear at least two individuals calling in the woods.
A stay in the lower hide wasn't particularly rewarding apart from some glimpses of a tree creeper which never stayed still long enough to focus the binoculars.
The garden has seemed very quiet with hardly any birds seen but I hadn't been explicitly looking. I have just started putting a little food out in the front and in 24 hours have seen Robin, Great and Blue Tits and Magpies landing in my tiny front garden. Yesterday I heard a song that was unusual to me which the Merlin app identified as a Blackcap. Unfortunately for me the bird was ensconsed in the middle of my Forsythia which is still in full leaf and I couldn't get a sighting. This afternoon I saw Robins in the garden and corvids overhead. I set Merlin running while I swept fallen leaves from the front path. The app identified Robin, Rook, Wren, Jackdaw, Greenfinch and Blackbird. I also heard Parakeets but not while the app was running.


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