BTO Atlas tetrad at Mells

The forecast looked good, so it seemed a perfect day to do one of my late winter BTO Atlas tetrads. See www.bto.org/birdatlas/index.htm . The early winter surveys had to be done in Nov/Dec and the late winter ones need to be done in Jan/Feb.

This particular tetrad is in and around the village of Mells in Somerset, just a few miles from my home in Frome. The habitats I covered today included Mells Stream with adjacent deciduous woodland, Mells Village and surrounding farmland.

The stream and woodland were pretty quiet. There were plenty of Wood Pigeons and noisy Jackdaws, but only small numbers of Tits and a general lack of woodland species made for a slightly disappointing walk along here. I did have a few Redwings feeding on Ivy berries which is always nice to see.

The farmland section of the tetrad was also quiet, but I did have 40+ Fieldfares in the field just to the right on the photo above. I also had a flock of around 50 Skylarks and 8 Lapwings feeding in stubble fields. One slightly unexpected sighting was a pair of Bullfinches in these stubble fields, well away from their usual habitat of parkland or gardens. Despite it being quiet birdwise, it was a lovely day to be out and about!