Sunday 6 July 2014

Easy like Sunday morning

A beautiful morning ,warm ,slight breeze and fluffy white clouds a perfect day to visit the patch. The Patch is now in high summer mode with grass being cut for silage .
It will not be long now before the first returning birds will be seen on the patch , maybe last weeks Garden Warbler is the fore runner of the Autumn passage ,I have a feeling that it was a failed breeder on its way back to Africa.
Around the hedgerows today I managed to find 5 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff  and 5 Whitethroat .
It was overhead where most of the birds were today with 25 plus Swallow and 15 plus House Martins, surely some of the birds were this years first brood ,so here s hoping that they can get a second brood off .They were joined by a lone Swift briefly.
The Yellow Wagtails are still in situ so it would appear they are breeding again this year .They really are just beautiful birds ,its so sad they are declining .Willow and I have kept out of that field so as not to disturb them at all . Skylarks were still belting out their song with 5 plus still singing and a couple of Stock Doves were still hanging out.
On the raptor front 2 Buzzards flapped over and a female Kestrel was hunting over the recently cut meadows.
Green Woodpecker and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were both seen and heard and throughout this week a family of Green have been feeding in the field next to the cottage ,if we are lucky they may pop into the garden for a few Ants  .
A small flock of Linnets with 6 being seen today are perhaps"signs that the seasons will change soon enough .One Pied Wagtail was on  a farm roof  and the farmer told me they had bred at the rear of his barn ,youngsters having been seen .
I am glad to report that the Spotted Flycatchers were seen during the week near to their nesting site ,so fingers crossed . So really just really mellow Sunday morning on my little patch of no where .
For my Bullfinch fan I drew a blank again today , they seem a little elusive at the moment .