In strictly chronological order I will deal with this morning's visit to Morton Bagot first. I slipped out early, and it turned out to be time well spent. The Cetti's Warbler was singing again, but I was stunned to discover a male Stonechat as I walked back to the car. There have been no sightings since this April 5, and I can't think we've overlooked such an obvious species since then. So what was it doing here in early June? I did photograph it before it disappeared, but the shot is a bit of a shocker so I'll see if its still there tomorrow.
At about the same time the first Sand Martin here this year showed very well, but eluded the camera. Some House Martins were more co-operative as they gathered mud for their nest.
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| House Martins |
This afternoon I was back out again, this time to Earlswood.
Sometimes local places have a purple patch. This year Earlswood is excelling itself. This time John Oates was the finder, and the bird I needed to see was a Little Tern.
I arrived within fifteen minutes of its discovery, and thankfully it was still there. The last one was in 2012, and more typically it had been in and out.
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| Little Tern with Common Tern |
Perhaps the shingle spit, no longer an island, off the causeway encouraged it to stick. It's a tiny little tern compared to a Common Tern, and much less regular in the Midlands than it used to be due to a national decline.
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| Little Tern towered over by Black-headed Gulls |
As with the Spoonbill a couple of days ago it caused a mini-twitch for the local birding group.
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| Some very happy birders |
Perhaps June isn't such a bad month for birding.
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