Living in a large village I love to take my dog for a walk down Pulley Lane , it leads across the whole rear end of Bayston Hill and takes you out into peace and quiet . The area is mainly fields with thick hedgerows and a few lightly wooded areas and one small brook . The whole lane is around a mile and a half long and surprisingly not used by many vehicles and is therefore very quiet .
It has only been recently that I have noticed the abundance of bird life around this lane . Kestrel's ( a pair now , nesting somewhere over near the garden center ) , Sparrowhawk and Buzzard are regular seen raptors but I have seen both Peregrine and once a Hobby too . My wife once saw a Red Kite whilst out walking down the lane ( typical !! ).
In the pine tree's by Pulley House I have seen Nuthatch , Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker but recently up to 20+ Goldcrest have been busy feeding in the lower branches along with good numbers of Long-tailed Tit . It has been really good to see a pair of nesting Song Thrush further down the lane , just two day's ago I was watching one breaking a snail shell on the road , something I used to see regulary as a child but hardly ever see now . Unfortunately Song Thrush is becoming a scarce bird in Shropshire .
Corn Bunting was regular on the hedgerows last year and I have been lucky enough to be able to see one already this year . Although it has been hiding from me the last couple of day's.
It is always great to see the Swallows return and this year on the 4th April ( exactly a year to the day when I saw my first in 2003 on Pulley ) there they were 3 of them flying low over the fields . Now , a good 6 pairs are nesting on the old barn and have been joined by 3 pairs of House Martin , which is great as there were none last year . Around 4 pairs of Goldfinch are also nesting somewhere near the old barns too .
Whitethroat , Yellowhammer , Wren , Dunnock , Blackbird , Blue & Great Tit , Robin and House Sparrow are abundant nesting in the vast length of hedgerow stretching from the farmhouses to the A49 .
In the surrounding field you can always hear and see Skylark rising up singing it's lovely song . My wife and I always see which one of us can spot it first as it gains height . Occaisonaly Raven pearch in one of the boundry tree's cawing to one another . Crow , Rook , Jackdaw , Magpie , Collard Dove , Starling , Greenfinch and Chaffinch are hugely abundant .
Slightly less common , seen over the last year are Lesser Redpoll feeding in the small birch plantation , joined occaisonaly by Bullfinch and once a Siskin !! Green Woodpecker , Curlew , Lapwing and Golden Plover are irregular visitors to the surrounding fields .
As I have already said , it is only recently that I have taken stock to what is about in what is such a small area and close to the busy M54/A49 junction just on the outskirts of Shrewsbury , I havn't counted up but I bet it's a decent list ! I certainly look forward more than ever before now to taking the dog for a walk ... plus Tess love's it and it help's the old waist-line too !
It has only been recently that I have noticed the abundance of bird life around this lane . Kestrel's ( a pair now , nesting somewhere over near the garden center ) , Sparrowhawk and Buzzard are regular seen raptors but I have seen both Peregrine and once a Hobby too . My wife once saw a Red Kite whilst out walking down the lane ( typical !! ).
In the pine tree's by Pulley House I have seen Nuthatch , Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker but recently up to 20+ Goldcrest have been busy feeding in the lower branches along with good numbers of Long-tailed Tit . It has been really good to see a pair of nesting Song Thrush further down the lane , just two day's ago I was watching one breaking a snail shell on the road , something I used to see regulary as a child but hardly ever see now . Unfortunately Song Thrush is becoming a scarce bird in Shropshire .
Corn Bunting was regular on the hedgerows last year and I have been lucky enough to be able to see one already this year . Although it has been hiding from me the last couple of day's.
It is always great to see the Swallows return and this year on the 4th April ( exactly a year to the day when I saw my first in 2003 on Pulley ) there they were 3 of them flying low over the fields . Now , a good 6 pairs are nesting on the old barn and have been joined by 3 pairs of House Martin , which is great as there were none last year . Around 4 pairs of Goldfinch are also nesting somewhere near the old barns too .
Whitethroat , Yellowhammer , Wren , Dunnock , Blackbird , Blue & Great Tit , Robin and House Sparrow are abundant nesting in the vast length of hedgerow stretching from the farmhouses to the A49 .
In the surrounding field you can always hear and see Skylark rising up singing it's lovely song . My wife and I always see which one of us can spot it first as it gains height . Occaisonaly Raven pearch in one of the boundry tree's cawing to one another . Crow , Rook , Jackdaw , Magpie , Collard Dove , Starling , Greenfinch and Chaffinch are hugely abundant .
Slightly less common , seen over the last year are Lesser Redpoll feeding in the small birch plantation , joined occaisonaly by Bullfinch and once a Siskin !! Green Woodpecker , Curlew , Lapwing and Golden Plover are irregular visitors to the surrounding fields .
As I have already said , it is only recently that I have taken stock to what is about in what is such a small area and close to the busy M54/A49 junction just on the outskirts of Shrewsbury , I havn't counted up but I bet it's a decent list ! I certainly look forward more than ever before now to taking the dog for a walk ... plus Tess love's it and it help's the old waist-line too !
Last edited:
