The Patch..

A visit to the local patch this afternoon in the far but brilliant weather conditions,got me a few notable sightings over the 4 hours i was on site.The best bird was a lovely adult female Hen Harrier,watched hunting over the fields to the east of the car park,giving great views.I later found out from Mick that he had seen a male twice in the previous week,so 2 birds have been present again,great stuff,proving this site to be a regular winter haunt of this cracking species.Another Harrier species,this time a 2nd cal.yr. female Marsh,was watched hunting and perched in the wet pasture field,giving decent views in the murk,as another bank of light drizzle passed over.Other sightings of note where a large flock of 52 Corn Bunting down at the railway crossing,6 Common Buzzard and 36 Curlew.There was also a nice mixed flock of wildfowl feeding in the wet pasture,with 70 Teal,50 Mallard,5 Wigeon and 23 Gadwall.Mammal sightings comprised of 4 gorgeous Roe Deer(1 Buck and 3 Doe's),which showed brilliantly and 2 Brown Hare.A great response by the local police today was also witnessed after a confrontation with some Hare coursers,with the boys in blue pulling out all the stops,drafting in the police chopper to help look for them,great stuff and hopefully the idiots will stop coming down here.A good couple of hours.