Last day at The Scrubs - for this year!

The Scrubs: looking south at The Scrubs

I have to say that 2014 has been a pretty abysmal ornithological year down at The Scrubs. Well, a bit of a lie because we've recorded a couple of great birds with Wryneck and Hawfinch heading the list, plus I glimpsed a possible Waxwing dashing south over the prison this morning. Lists have been a bit of a major problem this year. I've already mentioned it but I'll mention it again - we have very few observers out in our urban field trying to find stuff.

Yesterday, I managed to score our very first Snipe for the year. This bird materialised seconds after I was publicly lamenting the absence of this characterful wader. Another case of The Force in action. If only I was asking for a flock of Sociable Plovers!

This morning I pulled some Lapwing out of the bag to make it 83 for the year - our smallest annual total in 11 years. I also noted some interesting behavior between a male Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few Rose-ringed Parakeets that were unfortunate enough to be sharing the same tree as him. I watched as the woodpecker made repeated physical attacks against parakeets that came too close, chasing them clean out of the tree. He would return again to the branch from whence he came, tap it a few times before launching yet another attack against another hapless parakeet. Despite possessing a formidable looking beak, the parakeets turned tail and seriously scarpered.

Our 1st Lawings of the year

I titled this blog 'the last' because as from Sunday I will be seeing out 2014 from the hopefully sunnier and warmer climes of Southern Spain.

Watch this space!