Sunday April 30 - It should have been today!

 Earlier this spring the competitors in the annual WestMidsAlldayer were balloted about whether it should take place on the last weekend of April or the first weekend of May. My preference was for the April date, but I was outvoted. Was I right?

This morning started pretty disastrously. I had gambled on a dry morning, but it soon became clear it was going to rain. Then we got latched onto by the dog, Chips, which was clearly going to follow us round. I cashed in my chips and went home to get my coat, leaving Dave to walk the dog.

By the time I returned Dave could report having heard a Cuckoo (I did too later), and that he hadn't shaken the dog. So from this soggy, depressing start things could only get better. Fortunately they did.

The flashes are now being anxiously scanned for signs that the "important" birds will still be here next weekend, and we duly added an Avocet, three Teal, two Black-headed Gulls, and three Shelducks. A brief shower drew in all three hirundines, albeit in small numbers.

The Avocet

There is still barely any edge, but there was just enough for a Little Ringed Plover. I took some zoomed-in shots of it, and was surprised to see that it had at least one colour-ring on its left leg. Unfortunately neither Dave nor I were carrying scopes, so we couldn't be sure of the exact colour combination.

The Little Ringed Plover

Behind us, the field with the plastic tree rings contained the five Wheatears and female Whinchat which Andy had seen on Thursday. The Wheatears were two males and three females, and had we known it, one was likely to have been the female Greenland Wheatear which Tony had caught and measured (103mm wing-length, and a weight of 40.3g) on Friday night. Unfortunately I only photographed the males so I can't say whether any of the females had been carrying a ring. They were the more distant birds.

The female Whinchat

One of the male Wheatears

The other one (look at those wings)

Tony's latest Greenland Wheatear

We plodded on and as we approached Stapenhill Wood I spotted a Hobby as it took flight and flew behind the trees. We hastened to the raptor watchpoint where Dave spotted it again in the distance. It eventually disappeared over the plantation at Castle Farm. 

We tried to tot up the warblers we had heard and came up with four Lesser Whitethroats, eight Common Whitethroats, three Sedge Warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler, four+ Blackcaps, and eight+ Chiffchaffs, but no Reed Warblers or Willow Warblers.

Back at Netherstead we found a male Whinchat, and a Red Kite.

The male Whinchat

An excellent end to a morning with a total of 58 species, when we knew there was plenty more to find if only we had put in more time.

This weekend will be a hard act to follow.