This post covers Wednesday to Friday. Wednesday was sunny and even what could be termed warm, so 2 singing Chiffchaff near the garden filled me full of hope.As it turned out there was not alot about the main highlight being 35 Meadow Pipits  ,26 which were grounded the rest straight over north
The rest of the list were 2 Red Legged Partridge, 3 Buzzard, 1 Linnet north, 5 Stock Dove, and a Bullfinch being heard.
Thursday was altogether colder and windier but at least 5 Buzzards were about ,perhaps some migrants with 2 passing high to the north .A Greater Spotted Woodpecker was drumming and 4 Skylark were singing. There was a flock of 15 Fieldfare moving east and a flock of soaring calling Lesser Black Backed Gulls were heading in the same direction ( 40 plus).
The highlight of the day was the first Swallow which powered north ,2 Chiffchaff were in the same place as few days ago.
The best of the rest were 2 Stock Dove 8 Common Gull and a Brown Hare.
Friday really felt like spring had arrived being mild with heavy showers. 5 Chiffchaff were scattered about the patch and 3 Buzzards were soaring about. The pair of Red Legged Partridge were again seen.
Just 5 Meadow Pipit today but there were at least 6 singing Skylark. After the first Swallow yesterday a further 6 went north .
There were still 5 Fieldfare and a flock of 10 Redwing and a Raven flew low over calling.
The best of the rest were 4 Black Headed Gull, 3 Stock Dove, and 2 Brown Hare
 The patch list now stands at 66 .

Saturday was glorious although very cold first thing, so I was hoping that spring may have sprung, a singing Nutatch from the garden was a good start. So it was onto the patch full of hope, Redwings 50 plus and Fieldfare with 40 plus reminded me of the cold spring that we have had . As did 50 Starling which flew quickly north . The local Buzzrds were soaring about ( 3), and on the pastures there were at least 8 Skylarks which were singing .
Meadow Pipits with 50 plus were about again after a few days of absence in any sort of numbers and there were 10 Stock Dove with one flock of 6 seen , I would guess that they were migrants as we only have 2 pairs on the patch usually.
A couple of Red Legged Partridge exploded out of one of the hedgerows  and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming somewhere in the distance.
So still no summer migrants on the patch although when dropping my son off at work there were 3 Chiffchaff by the river with one in song ,so some summer migrants are filtering in slowly .
With the winds forcast from the south next week and tempretures on the rise those summer visitors cannot be far from arriving

Having a bird blog depends on one major factor, the birds ,which are very sadly missing at the moment. The east wind is lacerating and migration has stopped so the last couple of days have been useless.
Redwing with 30 plus and Fieldfare with 20 plus are still hanging on , held up by the easterlies. A couple of Meadow Pipits still are hanging on ,the rest having moved on and just 1 Pied Wagtail has moved over.
The Kestrel has reappeared on her wintering grounds after a few days missing.
 The best of the rest were 2 Re dLegged Partridge, 6 Stock Dove and a Buzzard .Can it get any worse ?  

Over the last couple of days the sun has shone but the bitter east wind is still blowing, things look better for the weekend ,with southerlies forecast .
Monday gave a drumming Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a flyover Raven was heard. The winter Thrush"s keep hanging on with 12 Redwing and 6 Fieldfare. Skylark kept singing in the howling easterly with 4 been seen or heard.
The Meadow Pipit flock was down to 25 plus and a couple of Stock Dove put in an appearance.
Tuesday started off with a garden Chiffchaff which moved quickly through the garden . That got me hoping that we may be awash with summer migrants ,but not a hope. The best was 21 Fieldfare and 1 Redwing . There did appear to be a few Buzzard on the move with at least 6 soaring about ,with at least 3 moving high northwest.
The best of the rest were 29 Lesser Black Backed Gu;ll, 3 Common Gull and 10 Black Headed Gulls .

The first day of British Summer time dawned clear with a heavy frost so it seemed only right that the first birds of the day were a flock of 65 Redwing feeding on thawing pasture.The other winter Thrush featured as well with 78 plus Fieldfare . Meadow Pipits were passing through with 87 plus heading north to north east and it was almost feeling Springlike by this time with the sun up and the wind having died away .
A pair of displaying Ravens were a great sight and a distant drumming Greater Spotted Woodpecker added to the springlike feel . Pied Wagtail were more numerous than they have been with a total of 6 been seen , some north bound migrants in the number. Two Comarants passed over high north east and our first singing Linnet of the spring was welcome .
 We also seem to have a small influx of Skylark with at least 12 been seen /heard. One of the local Buzzards flapped past and a Mistle Thrush was in a situ.
 But the best birds were two Chiffchaff feeding in a sunlit hedgerow ,flycatching together , newly arrived and no doubt feeding up before moving on or starting to sing on their territory.
The patch list goes to 65 and now spring feels as if it is on it"s way

The great spring continues with a bone chilling easterly today ,although the sun tried to make a brief sortie at one point.
The spring migration is so slow that it has hardly started here , pathetic is a word to describe it .
A flock of 24 Fieldfare moving east provided hope of something happening but that was soon shown not to be happening. There were 7 Skylark about the fields and the Meadow Pipit flock was around the 60 plus mark with 3 other over flying northward migrants .
I also saw a flock of 33 Black HeadedGulls with 3 Common Gulls which were soaring very high northwards ,maybe migrants ? .
There was a hunting Kestrel over one of the field ditches and a couple of Buzzards were soaring about , also a flock of 55 Woodpigeon were feeding in one of the sheep fields . Perhaps the most unusual bird was a Jay a bird we do not see here until the Autumn , although this is the second spring bird this year.
It can only get better , but when ?

The stalemate with the weather persists with a cold northeast wind and snow blowing in the wind , hard to believe after last year at this time. I went out not expecting to see any summer migrants and I was not suprised when I did not see any ,although there were some early spring migants around. The Kestrel was in it"s usual place having been missing over the last day or so.
The first flock of Fieldfares were seen, the first for a while, with a good 200 plus in the nearby trees, but no Redwings today. The newly manured fields have attracted good numbers of corvids with 110 plus Jackdaws notable. The hightlite of today was a superb male Peregrine Falcon which headed north east , the 2nd sighting of the year.
A Raven soared overhead ,and a Green Woodpecker was heard. A good sighting was had when a flock of 14 Golden Plover headed north east , these will be the last until the Autumn.
The best of the rest were Buzzard, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 3 Stock Dove, 2 Skylark .This year spring is very late and I for one am bored now with winter. Bring on the sunshine