Working the micro patch

 

Radford Semele and the Leam Valley make up what I’ve come to think of as my micro patch: the bit of countryside I can reasonably walk to and explore without getting in the car. It isn’t always the most productive of places, and there are days when the birding can be fairly quiet. But it has a habit of producing something memorable when I put the time in.

One of the year's highlights came on an early morning visit to the Leam Valley meadow. For a minute or so, a Barn Owl quartered over the grass, hunting in the open before dropping down onto the scrub mound at the far end. It didn't reappear. A brief encounter, but a wonderful one.

Around Radford Semele itself, the farmland continues to be rewarding. Lesser Whitethroat was recorded again, with the behaviour suggesting possible breeding, while Linnets were present in good numbers, presumably benefiting from the winter SFI fields. Skylarks were also a regular feature, and Yellowhammer was recorded on all seven visits to the area.

September brought a different sort of interest. Early autumn was dominated by westerly winds, but a brief spell of easterlies gave me the chance to get up to the Crown Hill trig point early one morning. The result was some modest, but thoroughly thrilling, visible migration – or vismig, as it is generally known. Meadow Pipits and Skylarks streamed overhead, with plenty of the pipits dropping into the field around me. It was a lovely opportunity to watch migration unfolding in real time.

The autumn arrivals continued. Redwing appeared first, and then on 28 October came Fieldfare, with 30-plus recorded on one morning walk. That same morning produced another little surprise: a pair of Stonechats in the fields nearest my house. Remarkably these are only the second and third Stonechats I’ve recorded on the micro-patch.

The micro patch may not compete with the bigger reserves and habitat hotspots for species totals, but that isn't really the point. Its rewards are more personal: a Barn Owl appearing over a familiar meadow, the first pipits of autumn passing overhead, or a pair of Stonechats turning up in a field you walk past all the time. The more attention I give it, the more it gives back.