Pittswood Birds

They're here!!
Despite the unpromising start to the day (foggy!) I heard my first CHIFFCHAFF (69) singing within 20 mins of setting out. This was followed by a further two singing, then, 3 were found together in a small silver birch, brilliant spring sound! The earliest singing Chiffchaff for my patch, is the 10th March, in 2003, these are later, but they are earlier than the mean date of 17th March. As expected as there arrival was, it is always a thrill to see and hear them, however the discovery of two WHEATEAR (70) feeding on the manure spread fields, (migrant alley, comes up trumps again) was a real surprise, this is the earliest arrival date for these migrants I have recorded on my patch, the previous earliest date, was on the 25th march 2006. The mean arrival date for Wheatear is the 17th April.
A good total of 48 species was seen this morning, and the pair of GREY WAGTAILS, seen at the stream behind the college, was a new species for the month. Patch watching doesn't get much better than on a day like today!

This Dunnock was belting out his warbler like song.

One of the 3 Chiffchaff in a silver birch tree, a long way off to photograph, but just about identifiable

A drake Mallard was posing, so I didn't let him down

The two wheatear, again only distant shots, but you can make them out

I heavily cropped this image to get a better view

What a Stunning bird, I don't ofen get to see these migrants in the spring, I normally get the drab immatures in Autumn or the worn adults.

A further visit at 12.30 was made to migrant alley, and a third Wheatear was found, feeding with the other 2.