The end of February and already into March and the first signs of Spring on the patch . Despite the weather which is more in the vain of winter with hail showers and heavy winds. When the sun does manage to shine there is however the faint glimmer of warmth in its rays.
The last week has been dominated by the passage of large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares that have passed through the patch. They have been accompanied by a reasonable number of Starlings and three figure counts of all three species have been a regular feature of the week . The other bird of note in the week has been a couple of Sparrow hawks that have been seen.
It was not until Saturday afternoon that Willow and I got onto the patch and I did not expect any great shakes with the hour being a lot later than our usual jaunt time .
One of the first things I noticed was the large number of Stock Dove that were around the patch and a count of 34 was noted. They must in some part be early spring migrants as I also noted a small but steady north passage of Woodpigeons.
The winter Thrush bonanza continued with 105 plus Fieldfare and 55 plus Redwing .We now have more normal numbers of Blackbirds although I still managed at least 7 plus Song Thrush .
On the pasture were just 10 Skylark and with them just 11 Meadow Pipit ,there will be more of each as birds pass northwards in the near future.
The only other thing of note was 4 Cormorant which passed downriver and a scattering of Chaffinch (a flock of 20 ) and a flock of 12 Goldfinch which passed north west.
So we were up and at em on Sunday and Willow and I were on the patch by 7.30 am Sunday morning. It was a clear sunny morning , just perfect to be out and about on the patch .
First bird seen was one of the garden Jays feeding on the lawn ,a good start.
As we left the cottage 2 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming ,a good spring time sound . The other usual woodpecker species the Green called from somewhere in the distance. On the pastures there were at least 12 Skylark with up too 4 singing, a great sound and a perfect sign that for mother nature Spring is around the corner.
A nice flock of migrant Meadow Pipits were on the edge of the patch with a flock of 50 plus and another small flock of 5 elsewhere on the patch . They do not stay for long and its really amazing to see the turn over in numbers daily. Fieldfares were down with 60 plus but Redwings numbered at least 110 plus today. There were 8 plus Song Thrush with at least 5 singing.
Elsewhere a single Red Legged Partridge dived for cover as we approached and Stock Doves were still in higher than normal numbers with 15 plus.
The distant sound of a flock of 7 Canadian Geese brought my attention to 3 Mute Swans as they flew towards the fishing ponds that brought up the number of species to 53 for the year .
The small passage of spring time Pied Wagtails continues with 7 on the patch . The final bird of the day of note was again nothing rare but the sound of a Moorhen calling from one of the flooded ditches and close to where they bred last year was a sign of some of the patches summer visitors are arriving .It also was the 54th species for 2015. So although nothing startling was seen 2 new species for the year and a few signs of a change in the seasons.
