Today was the finest day of the year as far as the weather was concerned, clear blue skies, with little wind, and it felt warm for once, about time too!

After work this afternoon I headed over to the lakeside Scrub, hoping to find an early Turtle Dove, whitethroat or Cuckoo to add to the year list, but none were found, I think if any had arrived they would be resting up in cover, relaxing in the sunshine after their long journey, morning would be best to hear or see them.

I waited in the scrub area and just listened and watched, it was so relaxing in the warm sun, all around the sound of birds could be heard, BLACKCAP, CHIFFCHAFF TREECREEPER, COAL TIT, LONG TAILED TIT, GOLDCREST, DUNNOCK, WREN and ROBIN all made for an entertaining audio extravaganza. Alas I had to move on though, and a quick scan of the lake provided me with the sight of the first MALLARD ducklings of the year, 9 in all with a proud mum nearby.

I took a wander over to Migrant Alley, finding my first Small Tortoiseshell butterfly of the year on the way, also a lot of Comma butterflies had been noted. I did a circuit of Migrant Alley, but nothing had arrived in the way of migrants, a couple of YELLOWHAMMERS were seen, as well as some LINNET, but that was about it. Both KESTREL and SPARROWHAWK were seen hunting, and the PEREGRINE was seen, but just off my patch. An hour on my skywatching seat didn't produce a thing, nothing was moving in the glorious afternoon sunshine, so I decided to come home and have an early tea, so as to have time to get out this evening, on the way home I passed a large Blackthorne tree in full flower, as I stopped, and took in the scent, I saw 3 Peacock Butterflies there.


Above: Long Tailed Tit and Below Blackcap seen in the Scrub by the lake

Below is a STARLING

Below is a GREENWOODPECKER - a bit far away though!

Above the first Mallard Ducklings!

Above My first Small Tortoiseshell of the year, and below another peacock.

Walking to work this morning, across Migrant alley, I wondered to myself will I find an avian treat on one of the fence posts, well, after all, it is my birthday today! As it happened, I spied in the distance what looked like a Robin, or Dunnock sat on the fence rail, I got a little nearer and was ecstatic to see that it was in fact a BLACK REDSTART (79, 58), this is just the 3rd record of this species in this the 9th year of recording on my patch, Happy Birthday me!!

The Black Redstart and the Red Kite, (seen on Monday) are both species never recorded in the month of April before, and they bring the combined April list to 99, it would be nice to see that figure hit the 100.

Straight after work this afternoon, I collected my camera and went back off to Migrant Alley, to try and re-locate the Black Redstart, alas it was nowhere to be seen, despite a thorough scan of the fence posts and rails, and to rub it in it started raining! Not much else was seen either, a few PIED WAGTAILS, the usual resident Corvids and WOODPIGEONS, and the now inevitable SPARROWHAWK that flew over menacingly. I hung about for twenty minutes, in the hope of something turning up, but the afternoon was brought to an early end as the rain got heavier.

In my excitement of seeing the Black Redstart, I managed to drop my phone, which broke into 3 pieces and is now useless! So if anyone reading this blog has sent me a text today I won't be able to answer! Guess what i'm getting as a birthday present ?