New bird and wildlife sightings

Our neighbour John Fleming is a very keen bird and wildlife enthusiast and has kindly agreed to send us copies of his sightings and occasional photos so we can post them here regularly. This not only shows what a fantastic place Overtown is for wildlife, but it is a really excellent way for us to see what a positive effect our farm management can have on our wild environment and we are very grateful to John for the time and trouble he takes in recording it all both in words and pictures.
We already have records going back several months so if you are interested in viewing them, go to our news page http://www.overtownfarm.co.uk/News--Blog-and-downloads.html where you can find an archive of records in the "Downloads" section. It is worth it alone for Johns' wonderful picture of Mandarin ducks!
So, here are the records for July so far.....

13^th July 2011

South of Overtown farm at 9.30am on new mown hay, 20 Mistle thrushes, 30 Starlings, 1 Raven, 1 Herring gull, 130 Rooks, 110 Jackdaws. At garden feeders and on lawn , Ebworth park cottages between 1.30pm...2pm , 1 juv Nuthatch,a male, female and juvenile Great spotted woodpeckers, pair of Bullfinches, female pied wagtail, 2 Goldfinches and 1 juv, female Blackbird, pair of House sparrows, max of 8 young Blue tits and 2 adults and 4 young Great tits. 2 young Carrion crows and male , female and 2 young Chaffinches.

15^th July 2011

In scrub near Foston's Ash 8.30am, 1 male Redstart in moult, 2 Goldcrests, 1
Treecreeper, 1 Coal tit, 6 Blue tits, 3 Great tits, 1 Robin, pr Bullfinches, 2
Dunnocks.
West of Overtown farm in hedge and on fence 9.30am, 1 male Redstart, 1 male Whitethroat, plus, in field feeding on arable seeds, flock of finches with 6 Linnets, 5 Goldfinches and 50 + Greenfinches.

18^th July 2011

Today at Ebworth park cottages, 8.30am, 3 Willow warblers arrived in the garden with a number of Blue tits and Great tits, the w.w's flitted around briefly before heading off down the adjacent field towards the scrubby area, the tits stayed around long enough to sample the peanuts and fat balls. A Raven in moult and 3 un-moulting birds flew over north-east calling at 3.30pm.