Cloudy at first, then sunny intervals and a very light north-easterly breeze. What's not to like? Dave and I set off from Netherstead and had found a female Stonechat, and heard Grasshopper Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, and Whitethroat before we met up with Andy coming from the opposite direction reporting Wheatears, Avocets and Sedge Warbler. Time to get the camera out.
Andy and I approached the reeling Grasshopper Warbler from one side of a hedge, with Dave on the other, and before long it showed extremely well.
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| Grasshopper Warbler |
With that in the bag, I headed towards the largest scrape in the pool field where a Sedge Warbler was showing well and sporting some bling, probably from the previous year's ringing effort.
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| Sedge Warbler |
Andy had to leave early, but Dave and I headed for a field containing some Wheatears. We found five (two males and three females) and later added another pair on the other side of the ridge.
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| Male Wheatear |
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| Female Wheatear |
None of the Wheatears were wearing rings, so they were certainly new birds.
Arriving at the flash field we found just the usual four Avocets, and 21 Teal. Hirundines included five Sand Martins, several House Martins, and a few Swallows. By now the sun was coming out and we started seeing butterflies including my first Meadow Brown of the year.
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| Speckled Wood |
The walk back added further singing Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, logging three or four of each in all. One of the Whitethroats appeared to be nest building already.
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| Whitethroat |
The only thing missing was a year tick, but as we approached Netherstead we put that right when a Yellow Wagtail flew over calling.
That's what I call a good day.
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