Wildlife Blog by Ron Allen – 31 December 2020

Buzzards everywhere.   31 December 2020

We were low on milk and so Mary and I put our boots on and headed off across the fields into town, and we found buzzards and then more buzzards. There was a buzzard on a pole, buzzards in the trees, buzzards foraging on the ground, buzzards perched on the recently cut hedges and buzzards taking off into the sky. How many was difficult to count as they kept moving around (Images 1, 2, 3 and 7).

And not only buzzards but there were two red kites perched up in trees (Image 4). Flocks of black-headed gulls were on the fields and one field corner had a held several dozen redwings, probably arrived from Russia and Scandinavia to winter here in Stroud. Wrens, blackbirds, dunnocks and thrushes were in the hedges. There were crows and rooks and plenty of wood pigeons too.

In the evening I took a walk and spotted our local barn owl that flew up into a tree and then flew fast across a field and off into the distance (Image 5).  Four deer were down in the bottom of the valley across our footpaths (Image 6).

Yes, Stroud is pretty good for wildlife and good to see that many of the footpaths have been cleared and are easy to follow (Image 7).

Happy New Year to you all, take care and keep safe.

Ron Allen