A four hour visit, from 06:45, in a blustery NE wind, didn't really bode well, but a record breaking day total of 55 species was recorded! All the summer migrants sang, and species such as, GREY HERON, GREY WAGTAIL, KESTREL, COAL TIT and LONG TAILED TIT, which are not seen daily all showed up. Less common species such as WILLOW WARBLER, GARDEN WARBLER and LESSER BLACK BACK GULL joined the list, and even the PEREGRINE showed up, circling over migrant alley. A new species for the month BLACK HEADED GULL (unusual for may) was noted, 3 in fact flew over the college. a steady stream of HERRING GULLS flew over, heading NW, and as I watched, a SPARROWHAWK drifted high over the paddocks - 3 raptors in the same day is good going on my patch! An excellent mornings work!

A pair of Grey Wagtails was at the Stream, behind the college

They were feeding right where I cross, on the stepping stones - most obliging.

Yellowhammer had the distinction of being the 55th species for the morning, breaking the previous record by 1

I set off for a 4 and a half hour walk from 06:15hrs today, but before I did, I noticed the first fledged STARLING in my garden, being fed by both parents. Fledglings were the order of the day really, with BLACKBIRD, CHAFFINCH, MOORHEN, MALLARD, ROOK, ROBIN and GREY LAG GOOSE young all being seen.
Light rain began to fall, but there was little wind, and birdsong was easily picked out. All the regular Summer visitors sang, CHIFFCHAFF, BLACKCAP,WILLOW WARBLER, GARDEN WARBLER, LESSER and COMMON WHITETHROAT, TURTLE DOVES purred and a CUCKOO called. All this was backed up by the resident species, mainly of WREN, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, BLACKBIRD, SONGTHRUSH, and a brief snatch of TREECREEPER - the first record this month!
Over at migrant alley SWIFTS, SWALLOWS and HOUSE MARTINS were busy in the air, but best of all a YELLOW WAGTAIL (87) was seen flying over the sprouting maize crop, calling as it went, it alighted in one of the paddocks, but was off again before I could photograph it. This is only the second spring record for Yellow Wagtail, I had one in April last year, but most records are for Autumn birds.
A good day today, with 49 species being seen, had i given it another half hour I would probably picked up the likes of Stock dove, Jay, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and the Spotted Flycatcher, but the rain was getting heavier, and I was pleased enough with my sightings.

A newly fledged Chaffinch peers around, calling for mum.

It was cool this morning, and in the NE wind it even felt quite chilly. 7 MUTE SWANS flew over migrant alley, and both TURTLE DOVE and LESSER WHITETHROAT sang from the headland there. The SPOTTED FLYCATCHER was heard in the college grounds, and a male GREY WAGTAIL was seen preening on the stream, behind the college.
Coming from work the Lesser Whitethroat and Turtle doves were heard again, while a group of 8 LINNETS fed in one of the paddocks, they were feeding on dandelion seed heads.
Once I had eaten, I went out for a couple of hours mainly to the lake area, where more purring from Turtle Doves was heard, as well as song from BLACKCAP, COMMON WHITETHROAT, CUCKOO, CHIFFCHAFF and the patch WILLOW WARBLER singing louder than ever, I wonder if he's got a mate yet. On the lake, 5 GREY LAG GEESE and 3 CANADA GEESE as well as 2 MALLARD and a few MOORHEN were seen. I walked over to migrant alley and spent 20mins watching SWALLOWS catching insects around a hedgerow, the usual SPARROWHAWK came over and sent them all into their panic calls - aways sounds like ''attack'' attack'' to me! A Kestrel also hovered nearby, but the Swallows didn't mind this too much.

Kestrel

The Swallows don't mind Kestrels - too much

Chiffchaff on an aerial, strange place to find one

The Cuckoo was calling well for most of the time I was there

The weather turned today, and it rained on and off for the most part. A good opportunity to do a bit of garden birdwatching, for the Garden Birdwatch Survey, something which has taken a bit of a back seat recently.
I sat down at the bedroom window at 14.00, and for 20 mins I sat and watched nothing! Then the reason for this became apparent, when a MAGPIE flew into the large leylandi, which overlooks the garden, and flushed out a male SPARROWHAWK. After things settled down, only a small trickle of birds used the garden, and the feeders. A peak of 3 GOLDFINCH, 5 GREENFINCH, 4 CHAFFINCH, 5 COLLARED DOVES, 2 BLACKBIRDS, 4 STARLING, with singles of BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, HOUSE SPARROW, ROBIN, JACKDAW, and WOODPIGEON, not a great garden list, but as its May, the natural food is becoming more plentiful, especially for the insectivores. Thirteen species flew over, or were in the close vacinity of the garden, highlights being a skein of 7 GREY LAG GEESE, and a pair of HERRING GULLS. SWALLOWS and SWIFTS were chasing insects out on the sheep pasture, where a group of 45 starlings were collecting grubs for their 'just about to fledge' young. PIED WAGTAILS, a pair of LINNETS and a PHEASANT were around the greenhouse complex, and 3 MALLARD visited the small reservoir that collects the run off from the greenhouse roofs.

Starling - Collecting the fat pellets I put out.

A recently fledged Robin

Collared Doves

Woodpigeon

It was cloudy, with a cool Northerly wind this morning, much as expected, but the heavy shower around 06:45 wasn't forecast! Birdwise it was much the same as yesterday, but I noted at least 4 TURTLE DOVES in the lakeside scrub, also the COAL TITS have started singing again, after 6 weeks.
Migrant alley was all quiet, apart from the ROOKS and CROWS and a lone KESTREL that was hunting over the paddocks.
In the grounds of the college, the two SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS were present and a GARDEN WARBLER was singing. A pretty quiet day in all.

Azure Blue Damselfly

Again the day dawned clear and sunny, but a strong northerly wind blew, which made listening to birdsong quite challenging. Most of the summer migrants were heard around my patch today, BLACKCAPS, WHITETHROATS, CHIFFCHAFF, CUCKOO, GARDEN WARBLER, however the Lesser Whitethroats seemed to have stopped singing, an indication that they've paired up. While listening to the migrant species, around the scrubby lake area, I took some photo's of Damselflies, i'm not very good at identifying these little beasts but I have given it a try - so if you know better let me know please!

At migrant alley, grass was being cut for silage, stirring up insects, but it didn't attract any exciting migrants, as hoped. The maize crop was sprouting and 4 STOCK DOVES were feeding amongst it, as were some PIED WAGTAILS and the usual corvids, I also noted two swallows coming down and picking up insects from the field. Once again the days best bird was another sighting of the PEREGRINE FALCON, I got some photo's of, it but it was way too high up really.

I reckon this is an AZURE DAMSELFLY

This one is an immature male BEAUTIFUL DEMOISELLE

Female ?

Female BEAUTIFUL DEMOISELLE. ( if you click on the pic. and enlarge it, beware, its quite scarey!!)

and this one is a BLUE TAILED DAMSELFLY

One of the Moorhen chicks with mum

Peregrine - albeit a bit high

Still suffering with ''Man Flu'' today, but I managed to bravely drag myself into work this morning. The cool fresh air did me a power of good, and I deserved to see something special for my efforts, but only the usual species were about, WHITETHROATS, BLACKCAPS and CHIFFCHAFFS were all singing, a KESTREL flew over Migrant Alley where two SKYLARKS sang, spiraling out of sight, into the blue sky. the two SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS were chasing around the college grounds, a pair or rival males I wonder ?
After work I felt rubbish again ! So I just went out to the tree nursery, where work seems to of halted for a while, I layed on the grass and watched the sky, within a few minutes I heard squawking/screeching, and found not one but two PEREGRINES, they both, as usual for raptors, put themselves between the sun and me, so I couldn't see to decide wether it was a pair, or two males fighting over territory, they then split up and quickly moved off SW. Apart from the usual SWIFTS, SWALLOWS and HOUSE MARTINS, with a single HERRING GULL nothing else was noted in my short stay.

Swift

And another!