Only a short patch visit was possible this afternoon, as I had a dental appointment later  :-(   I had just enough time to walk over to the lakes and back, through the Small Holding and Wet woods. Conditions were the opposite of yesterday, back on went the fleece jacket and woolly hat, as the temperature was a good 10C down on yesterday, and the sun stayed behind a grey sheet of cloud. The mix of GREENFINCH and GOLDFINCH continue to feed in the Alpaca enclosure at the Small Holding, BLUE and GREAT TITS buzzed about calling, and as usual a couple of GREEN WOODPECKERS were seen.

The Wet Woods had a drumming GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, more calling Tits, a NUTHATCH, and 3 drake MALLARD, they were on the almost dried out pools of water, also an old friend passed me by, the 3 legged fox, not seen him since late last year, good to see he survived the winter  :-)

On the lakes today it was relatively busy, with 7 CANADA GEESE, 4 more drake Mallard, 4 MOORHEN, a CORMORANT, the pair of COOTS, but best of all a visiting pair of MANDARIN DUCKS, probably the pair seen in the Wet Woods on Tuesday afternoon. I couldn't stay to check the Scrubby Woods thoroughly, but heard BULLFINCH, COAL TIT, JAY, GOLDCREST and PHEASANT, a CHIFFCHAFF called but didn't sing today, I then retraced my steps back home the way I come. A flock of 30-40 BLACK HEADED GULLS flew over calling loudly as I neared home, they were flushed up from the fields over at Migrant Alley, but looking around the sky I didn't see anything to upset them, no large raptors about  ;-)

Too dull and dingy for photo's today, the camera stayed at home, so here's the last of my garden finch photo's I took earlier in the week.

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
I seem to have fallen foul of one of my own golden rules, ALWAYS CHECK EVERY BIRD!  My casual assumption that yesterdays flyover ''Buzzard'' was just that, a Buzzard, was way off the mark, and would have cost me a great year tick if it hadn't been for the more eagle eyed of you out there ( Neil, Marc, and Dean - Thanks! ) It was in fact a MARSH HARRIER (74, 61) Only the fourth patch record, previous sightings were had in Oct. 2008; Sept 2009; and Aug 2010, so to think I didn't even lift my bins to yesterdays bird was a disgrace! What a lazy birder I have become - lesson learned!!  I went through the other photo's and although they are poor you can quite easily see it's no Buzzard.  ( In retrospect!!  LoL)

Yesterdays Marsh harrier

Yesterdays Marsh harrier

So, back to todays afternoon visit, where the sun shone warmly, necessitating the removal of my fleece jacket, and the wearing of my summer cap, I didn't visit the lakes today, instead I headed straight for the Tree Nursery, I felt sure a migrant would have dropped down into the shrubs to sit out the dense morning fog, alas, despite a good search through the 30 acre field, I was proved wrong, if one did drop in this morning, it probably carried on its way by the time I got out  :-)  I was left with the regular GREEN WOODPECKERS, LONG TAILED TITS, WRENS, DUNNOCKS, BLACKBIRDS, SONGTHRUSH and ROBINS  :-)

I moved on to the Greenhouse Grounds, where I did find a migrant, the second patch CHIFFCHAFF for the year, singing away and feeding in some sort of ornamental fruit tree, which was covered in sweet smelling blossom. I got some good photo opportunities, and had the camera set up right today  ;-)
In fact I went a bit over the top with images!!!!

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Whilst I waited for the Chiffchaff to come into range, I heard a MEADOW PIPIT as it flew over, might be the last one I record this end of the year, also a few PIED WAGTAILS flew back and forth from the greenhouses and sheep pasture.  I spent 40 minutes on my sky watching seat, and was not rewarded with a single raptor ( not that I could of Id'd them anyway!)  The pair of Long Tailed Tits were in the tall hedge behind me again, and the fenclines and paddocks were scrutinised for Wheatear or Stonechat, but that was fruitless, other than that it was just a case of sitting and enjoying the warm sunshine  :-)

Maybe I should just stick to watching the young Rabbits - look there's three now!!

Young Rabbits with new sibling :-)

The sun was back this afternoon, which made for a much more pleasant visit to the lake area. On the way it was all pretty quiet still, although a few mixed finch's were seen in the Small Holding, as well as just a single REDWING, and a GREEN WOODPECKER. A TREECREEPER was seen in the We Woods, and a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER drummed in the distance.

When arriving at the lakes, nothing was to be seen on the water apart from 2 CANADA GEESE, I didn't see the Coots, but they may have been dozing somewhere unseen  In the warm sunshine, most of the birds had gone quiet, I didn't hear the Chiffchaff today, but a GOLDCREST was seen well, and I could just about hear a BULLFINCH calling, the normally reliable garden feeders were checked, but the reason for much of the quietness became apparent when a SPARROWHAWK flew from the tree the feeders were hanging from!

Not hanging about too long, A walk was made over to Migrant Alley, on the way the KESTREL was seen up hunting over the Tree Nursery, where the only bird seen among the shrubs was the inevitable Green Woodpecker, they're everywhere!

I Checked the paddocks and fence lines over at Migrant Alley, hoping for that early migrant Wheatear, but it wasn't to be today, just Corvids, WOODPIGEONS and yes, another two Green Woodpeckers were about the sum of it. I had a 45 minute sky watching session, and manged some more views of the Kestrel, plus the third raptor for the afternoon, when a COMMON BUZZARD went high over, (Edit- In fact it was a Marsh harrier, thanks for putting me right Neil, Marc and Dean ) two LONG TAILED TITS were flitting in the tall hedge behind me, I took some photo's but had accidentally left the camera set to its maximum aperture, which made for some shallow depth of field shots, which ruined them  :-(

Here they are anyway!  :-)

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit

I also took a photo of the Buzzard, but it was a bit too high really.

Not a Buzzard, but a MARSH HARRIER !!

A couple of young rabbits watched on.............

Young Rabbits  :-)

I left for home, giving myself time for a sit in the garden, hoping that yesterdays Brambling would show up again, unfortunately it didn't, this COAL TIT did come in, but chose to feed on the peanuts behind the bars - another almost shot, oh well, that sums up todays photo's I think !!

Garden Coal Tit

This afternoon was very gloomy, and it felt cool under the leaden skies, what a turn around in the weather in just 24 hours!

I spent just a couple of hours out, and did manage to find some bits and pieces of interest for the afternoon, one of those being a fine pair of MANDARIN DUCKS in the Wet Woods, plenty of holey trees in there if they fancied breeding here, I did record them as a breeding species last year for the first time, but I didn't find the nest hole, just the newly fledged young on the lake.

The lakes today were unremarkable, the pair of COOTS were still present, with a few male MALLARDS and two MOORHEN, however a quick check of the nearby garden, that has some feeders kindly provided, gave me good views of 4 LESSER REDPOLL. Whilst there, I listened to the song of a CHIFFCHAFF, probably the one that arrived here yesterday, my first Chiffy song of the year  :-)

The only other notable species recorded this afternoon were FIELDFARES, at least 60 flew over in a loose flock.

I felt a bit cheated this afternoon, after all that lovely sunny spring weather we've had recently, but the enthusiasm returned when I arrived home. I had just sat down to watch the garden feeders, after refilling them, when, what pops in ?  A BRAMBLING (73, 60) fantastic! What a relief to get one on the year list at last, thought I might have missed this winter beauty !

The light was terrible, but I fired off a few record shots, this one was just about the best of a poor lot!

First Brambling of the year.

 The only other photo I got was of the friendly Robin  :-)

My friendly Robin - always good for a photo when all else has failed  :-)