Friday 9 April 2010

Sunnny, warm, and windless again this afternoon great for being out and about. However, i'm still waiting for the next Migrant bird species to arrive, i'm expecting the immenent appearance of Cuckoo or House martin, the avarage first sighting date of the Cuckoo is the 14th April, with the earliest being on the 11th, the house Martin average arrival date is a bit later, the 19th, but last year I recorded the earliest ever on the 10th. I did see a group of four 'Martins' high in the sky to the east of my patch, but they could have been Sand or House Martins, and anyway they were miles of my patch - maybe tomorrow.

I did the same walk today as I did yesterday, and it was a virtually idendical trip, singing BLACKCAPS, CHIFFCHAFFS, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST, and COAL TIT were to be heard in the lakeside scrub, as well as all the more common Tits and Finch's, DUNNOCKS, WRENS and ROBINS.

Away from the scrub area things were alot quieter, not surprising, as there is very little nesting habitat away from there. I did a circuit of Migrant Alley, but nothing very exciting was happening there, as shown by 100 lazing lambs spread legless across the sheep pasture. Just two LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS were seen of note, they have been hanging around the fields for a couple of weeks now, they pick up the fallen lambs tails, that have been docked. Another reason for the emptiness of the fields was the fact that a pair of SPARROWHAWKS were displaying continually over the fields, back and forth they went for over an hour.

Today was my last day at work until the 19th April, so ive got 9 days off Hurrah!! I intend to spend every moment I can out on my patch ( if the wife lets me! ) so bring on the migrants!


Lesser Black Backed Gull



7 comments:

Oxonhoath Birds said...

Nice Gull shots Warren

Phil said...

I didn't get Cuckoo until 25th April at New Hythe last year Warren. I hope I do better this year, i'm sure you will. Good luck with your 9 sunny, warm days!

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Hope you get lucky with the migrants . Yesterday on Sheppey was 'migrant free' .
Cuckoo reported Wednesday Ashdown Forest , and Redstarts .
Enjoy your time off .

Chris said...

Hi Warren
I'll try to send you a merlin or two for the next 9 days!!! Let's hope it will be sunny first and then that the wife will let you out ;-) Good luck with that last one ;-)

Derek Faulkner said...

Well at least Greenie has confirmed what I have been saying -that Sheppey is a migrant free zone.

Monika said...

Sunny, warm, and windless - sounds not only fantastic (especially the windless based on what we've been dealing with here) but like great weather for spotting migrants. Good luck on your upcoming days off!

Anonymous said...

I`m also waiting for the Martins to arrive Warren. I`ve only seen 1 Swallow and that was over a week ago.

Good luck with your time off, oh!! and the wife ;-)