A bright sunny morning, but still cold. Heavy showers approaching. I know I should have joined the crowds heading down to Worcester to stare at a Lesser Yellowlegs and add it to my county list, but there's something wrong with me. I can't be bothered. Maybe tomorrow if it's still there.
On Sunday Dave visited the patch and found a Swift, two Little Ringed Plovers, and a Starling (scarce here in spring).
After putting my moth trap out last night, I was disappointed to find it empty this morning. So I needed the patch to do the business. I started off walking along the road below Bannams Wood. It was good for flora, but the birdy highlight was a singing Whitethroat utilising telephone wires.
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| Bird on a wire |
I hurried to the flash field where the pair of Avocets, missing on Sunday, was back, while the Little Ringed Plovers were absent. Are these birds working shifts? Four Shelducks had returned but I couldn't see any Teal, while the cool weather had encouraged seven Swallows and a Sand Martin to swoop around looking for low-flying insects.
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| Mr and Mrs |
Walking down the brook I could see no sign of any Fieldfares (or the Ring Ouzel), but did spot two male Wheatears in a ploughed strip which Dave and I had speculated should attract Wheatears. Today, it did.
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| Wheatear |
You can't beat a Wheatear. Or maybe you can. The best was saved for last.
I had reached the "raptor watchpoint" above Stapenhill Wood, and was engaged in the fruitless task of trying to photograph a singing Lesser Whitethroat. A bird appeared on a bare twig a few metres away. I focused on it, and found it was a Spotted Flycatcher.
Unfortunately, as I fumbled with the camera it flipped off to the right and disappeared behind the scrub. I hung around for about twenty minutes, one eye on the approaching storm. It did not reappear, but at least I pulled back Swift.
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| Swift - my entry for bird photograph of the year. |
On the walk back I saw my one and only butterfly of the day, a Speckled Wood.
It's too cold. Brrrrr.
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