A busy week on the patch ,with a few squeezed visits in the week which resulted in 2 new species for the year list and also some nice birds which are passing through . At the start of the week Tuesday late afternoon was graced by a superb Yellow Wagtail which was still in the area and a rather washed out male Wheatear on a ploughed field . Also a good sighting was a flock of 150 plus Lesser Black Backed Gulls on the same ploughed field.
The Thursday was next notable sightings with the male Yellow Wagtail seen again and the first Swifts of the year with a party of 5 over the patch.
With family pressures it was a rather truncated visit on Saturday which resulted in the usual suspects been seen but with added bonus of 10 Sand Martins which went straight through north .This takes the number of species seen on the patch this year to 73,and we still have hopefully a few summer guests to arrive yet .
With the rather poor coverage so far this weekend Willow and I were determined to survey the patch properly this morning and as a result we were out and about fairly early.
Overhead it was good to report that there seemed to be a few more Swallows of late with a healthy count of 32 plus over the patch this morning. They were kept company by 14 plus House Martins and a couple of Swifts. The counts for the Swallows and House Martins were both high spring counts so far this year.
Other birds which passed over were a Cormorant which passed south and a calling Yellow Wagtail which went due north. 3 Buzzards seemed to be in the process of just getting up but were soon soaring over the patch .
In the hedges and other areas of cover this morning were a good count of 9 plus Whitethroat, lower numbers of Blackcaps with 7 today, and also this was mirrored with just 5 Chiffchaff .Other Warblers present were 1 singing Willow Warbler and 2 Lesser Whitethroat. It nice to give the Bullfinch fan a mention as I managed to catch site of 1 today on the edge of the patch .The first for quite a while.
Over the pastures a healthy 8 plus Skylarks were singing, but I could only find 2 Stock Dove today.
Perhaps the oddest record for today was a high flying Curlew which called as it passed over. I did not see it so it must of been quite high ,perhaps it was a passing migrant ? .
The only other bird of note was a calling Green Woodpecker .Talking of unusual sightings a summer plumaged Black Headed Gull seen on Tuesday was a very rare sight on the patch at this time of year.
So we are now standing at a species count of 73 for the year so far . The next few weeks are the most critical if we are to get to the magic 90 for the year so please let the bird gods be kind over the next few days .
