The first full patch walk of June was a thoroughly miserable affair, low cloud and a persistent drizzle fell throughout the 4 hour visit, making it difficult to find any of the fledged young that must be out there! In fact it was difficult to find many birds at all, I struggled to find 42 species, a far lower day list than can be expected at this time of year.

I at least added a few more of the regulars to the May list, over at the Lakes MALLARD (45) and COOT (46) were seen, of which the adult birds of the latter were feeding a now well grown youngster each. In the nearby Scrubby Woods the NUTHATCH (47) family were all feeding in the same Oak, there were at least 3 youngsters, it was also good to hear a TURTLE DOVE ''purring'' loudly despite the poor weather.

A YELLOWHAMMER (48) was heard singing in the Tree Nursery, lets hope it stays around and attracts a mate, while over at the College Grounds both SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (49) and BULLFINCH (50) were added to the May list, bringing it up to the 50 mark.

Not much else was noted, the only raptor seen was one of the local KESTRELS, while flyovers were only represented by LESSER BLACK BACKED and HERRING GULL. Not a very successful visit today!

Later on in the morning I took my camera in to be serviced, it'll be gone for two weeks now :-(  On returning home found a male BLACKCAP in my garden collecting food for nestlings, the first time this species has visited my garden in June, I grabbed my old camera, and had a go at some photo's of it, but the low  light isn't dealt with very well by my 400D camera and they are a bit grainy, later in the afternoon the sun poked its head out, and I had another go at the Blackcap, but by now that part of the garden was shady, - sometimes you just cant win  :-)

Here's the Blackcap, and also a STARLING that dropped in with an immature to be fed.

Male Blackcap collecting food for nestlings. The old 40D camera didn't perform too badly given the poor light  :-)

Sometimes he came out from the ivy, giving a nice view

Starling with youngster

A new month begins and the new bird list begins  :-)  June is not usually as productive as May or April, with the likelihood of any passing migrant birds diminishing by the day, but there is always the chance something nice might just crop up.

This morning the list started with a few birds seen in my garden, including CHAFFINCH, COLLARD DOVE, STARLING, BLUE TIT, GREENFINCH, DUNNOCK, JACKDAW and more unusual for my garden a JAY. Leaving the house for work a WREN was singing loudly and GOLDFINCH, GOLDCREST, WOODPIGEON, WHITETHROAT, SWALLOW, HOUSE SPARROW and PHEASANT were all added as I walked along Ashes Lane towards the greenhouse Complex, it was here the list was augmented by MAGPIE, CARRION CROW, ROBIN, BLACKBIRD, LINNET plus a noisy GREENWOODPECKER. I left the Greenhouse Grounds, and crossed Migrant Alley, where it was mostly quiet, but the flock of 80-100 Geese were on the sheep pasture, comprising of CANADA GEESE, GREYLAG GEESE, and the feral BARNACLE GOOSE, overhead a LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL was seen, and the first of the ROOKS were coming in to feed on the paddocks. A few more common species were added as I passed through the College Grounds, GREAT TIT, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, BLACKCAP, CHIFFCHAFF, PIED WAGTAIL, and SONGTHRUSH, 33 species in the 30 minute walk to work wasn't too bad  :-)

The walk home again was entirely different, just a COMMON BUZZARD and a HERRING GULL were added to the months tally, both seen over Migrant Alley as I fruitlessly scanned the sky for a Swift.  After something to eat, I made my way back over to the College Grounds, I thought I might find one of the Spotted Flycatchers, I didn't manage that, but a few SWIFTS were overhead, and a MOORHEN was with 3 newly fledged young. I spent a small amount of time looking for Damsels, and though there were a few Blue Tailed and Azure about and a single Common Blue, they were fewer than of late, the light was very poor and decent photo's were hard to get, the best of them obtained being this Common Blue.

Common Blue Damselfly

I left the College Grounds, and took a walk over to the Wooded Headland, where I was hoping to hear a Turtle Dove, but they remained quiet today, however, this MISTLE THRUSH was seen in the gloomy understory.

Mistle Thrush

Heading out into the sheep pasture a SKYLARK was heard up high, and another flew from the grass nearby, a pair of STOCK DOVES flew up with a flock of woodpigeons, bringing the months list to 40 species. I finished the day of with a skywatch from my seat at Migrant Alley, which initially proved poor, but eventually one of the pair of local KESTRELS came over to hunt in the Greenhouse Grounds, and a little later a TURTLE DOVE flew over, and later still a CORMORANT headed over towards the lake area, the final bird on the list today was the LITTLE OWL, it came and sat on the Greenhouse guttering, a favourite hunting place over the last month, I did get a distant photo, but again with the poor light, it was no more than a record shot. 44 species to kick the month of then, a good start, but some way to go yet to beat the record June tally of 68, set in 2010  :-)

Little Owl