Field Work

Recently I’ve been splitting my time between sitting in a tent weeing into a bottle,  playing Scrabble on my iPhone while trying to photograph buzzards on a deer carcass and sitting in a field whilst being attacked by the local dog population.Neither are the most glamorous of situations, however one has proved to be very successful.  This has not been the sitting in the tent option sadly, however sitting in a field has been a dream despite the out of control hounds.

Set-aside has to be one of the best local habitats in Hertfordshire. A farmland bird’s heaven, they can spend their days hanging off teasels prying out tiny little seeds or just bouncing about the ground pecking up every morsel of grain.

It seems every Linnet in Hertfordshire has taken up residence in one particular stretch of old corn, weeds and grass. Whirring about the air en masse landing randomly at various points, tweeting away constantly. Why the sudden lift off is often a mystery to me, they seem to explode out of the crop for no real reason. A circuit of the field and they’re back happily feeding.

You’d think with this plethora of birds about the field from Linnets and Yellowhammers to the lonely Reed buntings that flit about, the local Sparrowhawks would be having a ball. But despite hours of watching the same field I’m yet to see one! Instead they’ve been replaced with common Kestrels. A bird that is certainly not in short supply and I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of (especially when I still haven’t nailed a good photo of one yet!). Hovering above the crops with amazing steadiness is this countryside gem, waiting for an unwary rodent below to pounce upon.

When not terrorizing the local rodent population the Kestrels turn their attentions to bombarding our foreign visitors. Soon becoming my favourite birds, the Short-eared Owl.  Majestically gliding across the vegetation, a shift of their wing and they turn on a six pence then drop out the sky on the vole quivering in the grass below.

If not being dive bombed by Kestrels it seems the Owls get annoyed with their own kind, squawking at one another and chasing each other across the fields, spiraling into the sky then falling back down.

It isn’t just the Owls having goes at one another. The local Skylark population is growing in number and feistiness. As the flock flies over the crop a rogue Skylark will erupt out of the undergrowth to grapple with one of it’s relatives, spinning about and singing while they go. Then both will drop into the crop with the matter seemingly settled.

Another addition to and lover of set aside is a British gem, even known as the English Partridge. Grey Partridge are shy and secretive birds and I’m still yet to nail a photo of one without them erupting out from underneath my feet and speeding away in to the distance. I’ll keep trying, one day I’ll outwit the little balls of feathers.