Tuesday July 24

I made a late decision to go out tonight, and as a result the sun was just about setting as I arrived at the flash. Earlier, I had noticed about 100 Black-headed Gulls, several Swifts and a Hobby jinking around high above our garden in Redditch clearly taking advantage of a hatch of flying ants. The warm evening and almost complete lack of wind this evening meant that there were plenty of little insects to greet me, and also that there were small parties of hirundines plus at least six Common Swifts hoovering up the insect soup.


Common Swift

It is sobering to think that in another week or so these Swifts will be on their way back to Africa. As I watched them I noticed several apparently Swift sized bats, i.e. big ones, flying with them. I assume that these were Noctules. I turned my phone on and found a number of texts from Matt. He had seen a Dunlin and nine Green Sandpipers yesterday. I quickly located the Dunlin, which was quite vocal, and eventually counted 11 Green Sandpipers and my first Common Snipe of the autumn. A Little Owl called, but I couldn't see it. By the time I got back to my car it was nearly too dark to see birds, but I spent several minutes scanning the farmland in the hope of a midsummer Barn Owl. No luck, but ironically one flew over the road just east of Redditch on my way home. I have often been tempted to stretch the boundaries of previous local patches to cater for good birds, but I think this time it was just too far from the area.