Having looked at the weather forecast on Tuesday night and seeing that a band of rain followed by a breeze from the north I decided to get on the patch early .So Willow and I were out at first light around 7.15am .A gentle rain was falling and it appeared that not a lot was happening when out of the murk a flock of Swallows appeared from on high , they had been caught out by the passing shower ,they landed on wires to rest and feed whilst the rain passed over. This made them easy to count, 95 birds with just 2 House Martin . After that Swallows passed over in dribs and drabs over the next two and half hours and a final tally of 225 plus passed south along with just 20 plus House Martins today. The latter been somewhat short of the count of 60,000 that passed over Sandwich bird observatory yesterday, what a sight that must of been !
The bushes and hedges seem to have a fair few migrants that had been dropped onto us by the rain band ,a good count of at least 20 plus Chiffchaffs ( there must of been more around ), were supplemented by 19 plus Robin, singles of Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, plus at least 3 plus Blackcap. A really nice selection of birds .
Other birds seen in the hedges were a juvenile Bullfinch , a Yellowhammer , something that I have not recorded on the patch for ages so that was a nice surprise.
On the pastures the rain had brought down a fair few Meadow Pipits with a flock of 120 plus on a stubble field and 55 plus passing over in small groups all towards the south west .So we managed 175 plus after yesterdays poor performance .A decent size group of Skylarks were seen with a flock of 17 on a fodder beet field.
Jays continue to make themselves known with 3 today including one that passed over due south. Maybe a few migrant Stock Doves were on the patch today with 15 been seen ,that's more than the usual count and should increase next month as the migrant Woodpigeons pass through .
After yesterdays raptor fest all I could manage was a poor 2 Buzzard today ,a single Raven gronked its way over the patch .
The best of the rest were a skien of 40 feral Greylag Geese, 9 Canada Geese, Green Woodpecker, 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker , and 2 Pied wagtail .
So a nice selection of birds this morning from my little patch of no where , it really does surprise me what passes through here .
Bring on Friday morning !
