Friday 4 April 2014

Red Friday

Yes , a very quick update on a weekday ,whatever next ? . Normally I would wait till the weekend to fill in the midweek gaps but the bird we all wait for  started to show itself for the summer with the first sighting of a Swallow on Wednesday ,that is the earliest record for the patch by a number of days and lo and behold it was followed by another one on Thursday .Both birds passed through heading north ,and both  did not linger for long.
Chiffchaff numbers continue to build although still in low numbers and Blackcaps are dotted about but are yet to arrive in force.
Friday was a good day with numbers of Common Gulls heading high north east , in excitable flocks calling to each other as they passed over ,that in itself was a great sight, sometimes it is good to revel in the ordinary .
I then received a phone call and whilst leaning against an iron gate chatting away as you do my attention was drawn to a bird that appeared over the tree line , it was obvious that the bird was a Red Kite ,it passed low over heading north .We usually get April /May records of these birds ,perhaps they are migrants that have wintered else where and are on their way back to breeding areas .
 The species number for the patch jumps to 63 for the year so far .I looked for some signs of Bullfinches on the way back to the cottage for my Bullfinch fan but again I lucked out .
I am going to get out really early tomorrow as I have a full day ahead and want to cover the patch early before my day starts .Lets see what turns up tomorrow .