Sunday 19 April 2015

So It Begins

After reading all week of large arrivals of summer migrants the patch has been fairly quiet, although Wednesday was enlivened by the return of one the best birds around here .The sound of the Curlew means that the spring has arrived in nearby river meadows. A few pairs manage to hang on down by the river so when I heard one calling it meant our species list jumped to 62 for the year.
 Other birds of note over the last week were a small passage of Willow Warblers with some singing near the cottage ,a vocal Little Owl in the early hours of Thursday morning . Blackcaps were noticeable with their song being the first  heard from the cottage since last spring. The last vestiges of winter were seen in the form of 4 Meadow Pipits on Wednesday, they will no doubt be the last ones until Autumn beckons once again .
 So it was not until Sunday was I able to get out with Willow so we were out by 7am. The walk started quietly enough and I was beginning to think how hard patch birding was especially with the plethora of birds being so near by ,but we persisted and a good search of the bushes and hedgerows resulted in the fact that a good number of Blackcaps had arrived and a good count of 9 plus been had ,the highest of the Spring so far this year. Chiffchaffs had arrived in smaller numbers but a high count of the  Spring this year was had with 6 plus. More will arrive in both cases in the next few days that's for sure.
A familiar song caught my ear and it resulted in finding the first 2 Common Whitethroat ( number 63 )   of the year. As I carried on the song of the Willow warbler rang out ,but in the event it was the only one of the day. A contrast against the last few days previous .
I searched an area in the hope of finding a Wheatear on one of the bare fields but to no avail ,but in one of the nearby hedges the rattle of the first of the Springs Lesser Whitethroat ( number 64 ) caught my attention.
I started to give some attention to what might be passing over and a nice count of 10 plus Swallow  zipped over. A little Egret passed towards the river meadows as did a small party of 3 Greylag geese. Aside from that the skies were a blank and I had hoped for a few birds been seen given the clouds that had been lacking over the last few days.
 On the pastures 2 Red Legged Partridges broke cover ,and a small count of just 4 Skylarks sang out. We do however seem to have our Linnets back with at least a couple of pairs around and 6 other birds passing over no doubt migrants just passing through on the way north . 8 Stock doves were around their usual haunts and a unseen Raven gronked , as if to advertise its presence.
A drumming Greater Spotted Woodpecker was heard as was at least 2 Green Woodpeckers ,their calls ringing across the patch .
On the raptor front just 2 Buzzards both were worming on a bare field. So we seem to rolling on the Spring bird front and I cannot wait to see what turns up over the next few days.

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