Buzzards galore

We had friends staying over last night so I resolved to get up before dawn, return for breakfast after an hour, and then go back to the patch from late morning. The early morning was cold, very cold, and it didn't really pay off, although the three Fieldfares heading north-east 15 minutes before the sun came up showed that at least outward migration was taking place. The Tawny Owl was visible, and a Little Ringed Plover was on the flash, but the Spotshank had gone. I heard it was still here on Thursday at least. The late morning visit was much more pleasant and productive. There were lots of Buzzards in the air, and a slow 360` scan produced a total of 18 thermalling in groups of three or four. This beat my previous record, although many were a very long way off.

Common Buzzard

The flash now contained three Little Ringed Plovers, 33 Lapwings, 14 Teal, and seven Common Snipe. I walked along the footpath past the flash and noticed a small silent passerine in the hedge. It was a Willow Warbler, but the fact that it was frequently tail-dipping like a Chiffchaff led me to look at it quite closely. After about ten minutes it started to quietly sing and my identification was confirmed. I then turned my attention to the ploughed field and immediately discovered the first of three Wheatears, two males and a female. I spent ages trying to photograph them, but the results were so poor that I will be ditching the shots. I rang John Yardley, who told me that Chris Lane had seen a White Wagtail at the flash on Thursday, and that John himself had seen a good candidate while I had been having my breakfast. I retraced my steps and eventually saw four Pied Wagtails, but no sign of the White Wag. By now it was quite warm and several Small Tortoiseshell and a single Peacock butterfly put in an appearance. The mystery bee colony now contains thousands of gently buzzing insects. The two additions to my year list leaves me on 80 species, still a little behind where I was this time last year.