Saturday 6 June 2009

This morning was drab, damp and cool, which made it quite hard going to find the birds. Last weekend I was birding in a tee-shirt, this morning it was back to a winter coat and hat!

Two out of the three target birds for the day were found, the SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, at the College grounds, and SPARROWHAWK, of which a pair flew slowly over the Tree nursery. The months list now stands at 60, just 7 more to find. I say ''just'' but only two are likely - Lesser Whitethroat and Grey Lag Goose. I just might get a Grey Wagtail, flyover Lapwing, or a glimpse of a Kingfisher.

Todays list reached 50, quite surprising given the conditions, most of the species were seen, or in some cases just heard, in one's or two's, with some noteable omissions such as Cuckoo - have I already heard the last call of the year? last year the last one was heard calling on the 15th June. However a Juv. was seen in mid July. Others not on the list were Long Tailed Tit and Garden Warbler, the later not too surprising as there is only one pair on my patch.

I went out to post a letter at the box along the end of Ashes Lane this afternoon, of course I took the scenic route across Migrant alley, and as I crossed the gas pipeline works, a HOBBY flew over, always nice to watch these little falcons, too quick for a Photo though!

I didn't even take my camera out this morning it was so dull. I took these pics in a ''brighter moment from my garden.

Below is the HOUSE SPARROW that returned to my garden after over 3 years absence, you can see some of its colour rings, it also brought in a youngster!

The feeders are emptying faster than ever, this large feeder is only lasting 2 days! Kerrching £££

Here's a GOLDFINCH Juv. Picking up the dropped seed from the above feeder.
I took this pic. this afternoon as I crossed Migrant Alley. The gas Pipes have now been brought in, they do get a move on, but work isn't expected to finish until late Sept. :-(




4 comments:

ShySongbird said...

Well done on the SF and the SHawk Warren. I haven't heard a Cuckoo at all this year, or last for that matter. Such a shame they are on the red list.

My feeders are having to be refilled most days, it is an expensive job!

I loved the photos on your previous post of the juvenile Woodpecker, the one with the Blue Tit was funny, the Tit looked astonished to encounter such a creature, it must have been thinking it hadn't seen anything like that in the nest!

Anonymous said...

You`re right about the weather this morning, Warren. A bit of a shock to the system, but it didn`t appear to dampen your spirits. Not unlike me.

Kelly said...

...nice series of photos. Tee shirts one week, coats the next. It sounds like Cincy in spring...

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Warren: What a great shot of all the birds sharing your feeder. I have a chipmonk that loves to empty the feeder to the ground and take the sunflower seeds it wants out of the mix.