Red-legged Partridge

Ottery St Mary, Devon 

I haven't had any chance to make a dent in the 2022 year list, apart from the usual garden birds which has included Eurasian Jay, Redwing, Common Pheasant and a non tickable Indian Peafowl. I did pop to a few places late afternoon toady though. 

On the Road out of Ottery to Putts Corner (Hare and Hounds) in the first field on the left past the animal rescue centre were a group of 6 Red-legged Partridge. I was only on bins, so poor record shot below.

A few 100 metres south of St Saviours Bridge, wad a nice White-throated Dipper and 6 Common Merganser. 

Red-legged Partridge 

Unusual Urban Birding 2

Ottery St Mary, Devon 

The family did the same walk around our part of Ottery St Mary as I did yesterday lunchtime. The female Indian Peafowl was in the same location  but has a male friend. I feel amazed to see them in this setting. I'm used to seeing them in places like Trago Mills and Escot etc, not on someone's front garden.

Indian Peafowl (Male)

Indian Peafowl (Female)

Unusual Urban Birding

Ottery St Mary, Devon 

I haven't blogged for a while. In fact, I haven't birded for a while either. Work commitments and illness have gotten in my way. 

I have only been on few walks around my estate. I have of course been watching the garden and the main order of the last few weeks have been. Redwing, Eurasian Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a flyover Little Egret. 

On today's lunchtime walk though I came across something that I have heard calling of late. A few streets away I came across an usual site. An Indian Peafowl. This female was rather at home wandering the street and pottering about in gardens. Not quite what you would expect from urban birding.  

Indian Peafowl (Female)

Reintroduce These Species?

Wildwood Escot, Near Ottery St Mary, Devon
I was going through some photos of the last few weeks and thought I would share these from a visit to Wildwood Escot. I don’t normally like the whole Zoo set up as I believe animals should be in their natural setting. The exception to this rule of course is to save a species from complete extinction and to be working to reintroduce to the wild. There are sadly, a huge number of zoo’s across the world that hold species that are not viewable in the wild.

Anyway, back to Escot. This place has enclosures that include a number of species that are extinct in the UK or only present in a few locales. The Red Squirrel enclosure was actually rather nice. It was large and was entirely natural. You can walk through the enclosure and enjoy watching the squirrels do what they do. It’s just a shame that these beautiful creatures aren’t as widespread as they once were. Being driven away by the introduction of the Grey Squirrel by the Victorian’s (they’ve got a lot to answer for).  Whilst I don’t wont to persecute the poor Grey Squirrel, it is an alien species and I would much rather see the Red variety in our countryside.

Red Squirrel 

Red Squirrel 

We looked at the Eurasian Lynx enclosure but nothing was on show. Next was the Wild Boars and these were not so shy. There are small pockets of these in the wild but the populations have not been introduced in an organised way, leading to culls. What a shame.

Wild Boar 

Lastly we looked at the Eurasian Wolf enclosure. Again, it’s a shame to see these in an enclosure. I know there have been talks about reintroducing these to Scotland. I think the benefits to the ecosystem would be tremendous. They were reintroduced to Yellowstone Park in the US in the 80’s after being driven to extinction in the 20’s and whilst the park still hasn’t fully recovered the effects of the Wolves has been noted. The Elk population has declined, which has helped certain tree species. This in turn has helped bird species and Beaver populations. Beavers then help change the landscape and this helps further species. Can a similar programme help the UK landscape? I think it could. The guys at Wildwood Escot sure seem to be aiming for this. Time will tell I guess.

Eurasian Wolf