Rouzels & Lulu

Cogden this morning was as birdy as you like, and a steady overhead passage of Meadow Pipits, Skylarks, alba wagtails and assorted finches was a constant feature. Climbing the slope below Othona I heard a Woodlark, and looked up to see a lone bird flying west almost overhead. Having seen hundreds of Skylarks already, the Woodlark looked almost tail-less in comparison, and a touch smaller. It called twice, a really distinctive sound. The French name for Woodlark is Alouette lulu. Very appropriate, because the flight call sounds just like a flutey, yodelled 'lulu'. I was confident that the recorder would have caught it, but back home I really struggled to pick it out. I can hear (and see) just one of the calls, but it's a bit weedy, and sadly not worth the bother of turning into a spectrovid for the blog. Last year's West Bay Woodlarks were similarly disappointing in that respect. Ah well, hopefully there will be further chances.

There were birds in the bushes too: 35 Chiffs and 2 Goldcrests were certainly new in. Even better, there were Ring Ouzels. The first two flew NE together up a hedge-line, pausing briefly for the camera...

Ring Ouzel #1. Full frame at 1200mm zoom.

In flight I had seen that one bird had a whitish bib, presumably this one.

Ring Ouzel #2, possibly a juv. Even with these poor views, the silvery fringes on the wing are obvious.

I've seen Ring Ouzel at West Bexington a couple of times, but these are my first at Cogden. And a short while later I added two more, both singles in different patches of scrub. One of them had a nice bib.

The Woodlark was a Cogden first too, so I went home pretty chuffed.

Somehow I wangled a late-afternoon visit today as well. Sticking mainly to the sunny upper slopes, it was obvious that most of this morning's birds had not lingered, and my Chiff count was just eight. However, imagine my delight when I managed to spot this before it spotted me...

One spanking male Ring Ouzel.

Actually, I'm sure it had spotted me too, but at least I'd noticed it while still far enough away to be tolerated!

Best of all though, it wasn't alone...

Three Ring Ouzels!

Both the other birds had white bibs too, but I got the impression they were not quite so clean and pristine as the obvious male. Certainly adults, but I'm not sure if I can safely say much more than that.

These Ring Ouzels were a bit further east than any of this morning's birds. I definitely hadn't seen such a smart male earlier, and highly doubt I'd seen the other two either. Seven Ring Ouzels it is then!

That'll do.