We had our first ground frost in this area last Thursday night. This made way for a fine day on Friday and in the afternoon I wandered around my local woods. Seeking a bit of warmth in the rapidly decreasing sunlight, I found myself a new sit spot at the top of a small rise. It was in fact an over grown rubbish mound full of scrap metal and old bricks and concrete.

I found a square piece of concrete, put down my folding sit mat, opened my flask of tea and sat watching the wildlife. The view to the north gave me a good view of a convergence of two tracks where I had spotted the Mutjac tracks. If I waited long enough I might be lucky and see one or two.

After two hours the only thing I saw were the usual rabbits, a Jay, Blacksbirds and a Wren that came within arms length as I sat there motionless getting colder and colder. I packed up and walked around the edge of the wood to view a fine sunset through the woods to the west with the moon rising in the southern sky.
On Saturday, I went to the secret clearing and set up the tarp and hammock. I took a few shots with a view to making a new vid about camp set ups. I had lunch (an apetising tin of all day breakfast) made with the Bushbuddy. To be honest, I was a little bored so I packed up, returned to the Land Rover and took a ride along the edges of the fields and tracks sorounding the woods.

I was just about to head home when I noticed an unusualy coloured bird hopping along the edge of the track. I always carry my best binoculars in the glove compartment and I was pretty certain of my identification even though I didn’t have a bird book with me. I was 95% sure it was a Snow bunting. Even though I managed to get a snap of the bird, it was too far away for a decent shot. Looking back through the more powerful bino’s I took in every detail, making a mental note of all the features before it flew off.

At home, my field guide confirmed the features I’d noted. They are usual seen around the coast in this area, so I think I’m quite lucky to have seen one being well inland. I’ve still yet to check with the birder experts of the wildlife group to see if their presence here is a regular occurance at this time of year. Personally, it was a first ever sighting of a Snow bunting and will be entered on my tick-list database of unique wildlife sightings.
A great finish to an otherwise uneventful weekend.
Pablo.