Monday 30 April 2012

Sunshine

Yes, we finally saw some sunshine after days of heavy rain and wind , the sun came out and although it was still very windy it felt much better.It was a bank holiday in Holland so it was a bonus day and Willow and I were out early. The very welcome sight of a COMMON WHITETHROAT in its usual place from last year was the first bird I saw. In the hedgerows alot of birds were keeping their heads down in the strong gusts , so only 2 BLACKCAP, 2 YELLOWHAMMER, 3 LINNET , 1 WILLOW WARBLER, 1 CHIFFCHAFF was all I could find this morning. Around the fields were 4 RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE, 6 SKYLARK, 3 STOCK DOVE, 3 BUZZARD and a GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. In the top field many of the WAGTAILS seem to have moved on so a count of only 7 PIED WAGTAILS was possible, however a bonus was 2 migrant MEADOW PIPITS AND 2 cracking male WHEATEARS , one of which looks very like a Greenland bird, so he still has a long way to go to his breeding grounds. There were 22 plus SWALLOW over to the north, also 1 HOUSE MARTIN likewise, the years first 2 SWIFT also headed north. So all in all not a bad day. Tommorrow is another day.