Tuesday 14 April 2015

Good To Be Back

After a couple of weeks back at home for the Easter break it was very nice to get back out onto the patch this afternoon, especially with the summer migrants back in numbers. I got off to a good start with the fields either side of Pony Wood being newly plowed thus attracting at least 7 Wheatears my first of the year.

Heading down to the Flood it was great to hear both Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler singing, these proved to plentiful across the whole site during the evening. 4 Little Ringed Plovers were feeding on the flood itself.

The first few Swallows flew overhead as I headed along the cycle path and these were joined by a number of Sand Martins over Frog Pond and Freeman's Pool. A quick search in this area produced my main target for the visit, the 2 cracking male Redstarts that Jon had found earlier. These gave wonderful views as they moved up and down the fence and hedgerow flycatching.

A quick check of the river produced nothing of interest bar a gull which briefly got the heart racing before revealing it's true nature as a hybrid Herring x Lesser Black-backed.

Like Jon yesterday I made the decision to walk back through FAUNA and like Jon it proved to be a good decision when I came across another 2 male Redstarts feeding along the hedgerow adjacent to the allotments. 4 on patch in an afternoon!


 

My patch yearlist now stands on 90 species.

Jonathan

1 comment:

Jon Carter said...

There were still 2 male redstarts in the same area this afternoon and a female along the path near School Pond.
Interestingly, a pair of stock dove were also nearby, paired up and looking like local nesters...