What's supposed to happen at the back end of August is a constant turn over of birds as migrants wing their way south. This morning was cloudy, not ideal for the camera, with hardly a breath of wind. Good conditions for looking for passerines.
There were signs of movement, but you had to look hard. I counted 30 House Martins and 18 Swallows, the latter arguably on the move. The hedgerows contained warblers judging by the calls, but it took scoping the far hedge of the pool field to see most of them. I ended up with a respectable 12 Whitethroats, 5 Lesser Whitethroats, and 11 Chiffchaffs. Some of these were almost certainly on the move from elsewhere, but you'll never really know.
On the other hand three Whinchats was one more than at the weekend, and two more than Mike Inskip saw here yesterday.
Down at the flash field the water level is still high so waders were restricted to at least 16 Lapwings, five Snipe, and a Green Sandpiper. On the other hand there were more ducks. 50 Mallard, 24 Teal, and four Shovelers was a marked improvement on the weekend.
One feature of this time of the year is the fruiting of Elderberry bushes. Birds love them, and most "tack" calls coming from them are usually made by Blackcaps.
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| A proper view |
I found another grubbed out wasp nest, suggesting the local Badgers have been having a field day.
Back at Netherstead the Goldfinch flock is going from strength to strength and I counted 112 of them. There's probably more than that.
Its all very nice, but a bit of extra variety wouldn't go amiss.
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