A Barn Bought The Farm

Dan here.

The cold and blustery north-easterlies made conditions a little difficult both for birds and locating them this morning.

However, a flock of thirteen wheatears was the best showing for this species so far this year, and three lesser and one common whitethroat were noted.

One of the male blackcaps was seen excitedly courting a female- the first hen I've seen here this year and perhaps a recent arrival.

A bit of finch passage seemed to be on, with 2+2 siskins and 2 lesser redpolls observed as they laboured low into the wind. Around fifteen swallows and two house martins were hunting over Freeman's Pools at noon.

The windswept estuary at Marsh Point had a lone black-tailed godwit in breeding plumage, and the goosander with six young was seen swimming beneath the pylons.

Bird of the day would have been the barn owl near Freeman's Wood.... had it not been profoundly dead. I checked the gory corpse's legs for rings but there were none.

Yours Morbidly,
DH.