The fine weather continued for the start of my holiday patch walks, where I was once again on the lookout for any summer migrants, but once more I was to be frustrated, the Cuckoo, Whitethroat, House and Sandmartin, all which are due, were not to be seen this morning, but they will show up very soon now.

Of the summer migrants that have arrived, the CHIFCHAFF and BLACKCAP were enjoying the sunshine, singing loudly from the lakeside scrub and the college grounds, Swallows were zooming over the college stables and Migrant Alley, and my second WILLOW WARBLER (59) of the year was seen feeding on the insects attracted to the sallows, which are growing along the footpath from the Wet Woods to the Lake area, good to get the months list moving again! Another addition to the months list was a bit of a bonus bird, a single LAPWING (60) flew over whilst I crossed the College sports pitch.

Other flyovers today included: BUZZARD, SPARROWHAWK and KESTREL, as well as LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, HERRING GULL, GREYLAG GOOSE and more unusually a NUTHATCH, which flew over the college stables and onto the small wood/scrub at the north end of Migrant Alley.

The days total was a little below par, on 45 species, but the likes of Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, and Treecreeper didn't show this morning, but I know they are there somewhere!

This afternoon I went over to my skywatching seat at Migrant Alley for an hour or so, and was pleased to see a lone SANDMARTIN (80, 61) go by, headed NE, so I did get a new migrant for the year after all, these are a difficult species to find on my patch during spring passage, and todays sighting is only the third spring out of 9 that I have recorded one.



Above: Chiffchaff Below : Goldcrest

Below: Flyover Greylag Geese

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