The first proper Spring morning, clear sky and a light south wind , just a pleasure to be out. I was out at 7.30 am and the first thing that greeted me was a singing Blackcap , in the end we ended up with 4 . 2 Drumming Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were nice to hear and the female Kestrel was on a post. There had been an overnight arrival of Common Whitethroats with 5 been found . A Curlew was heard calling from the river meadows .
There were at least 7 Skylark about and a Meadow Pipit headed north.As far as  other Warblers there were 2 singing Willow Warblers and 3 singing Chiffchaff. The best bird of the day was a male Yellow Wagtail which was near last years breeding area.A small suprise was a Fieldfare which flew over , a bit late now he /she should be on his way north by now.
The best of the rest were a flyover Mute Swan, 6 Red Legged Partridge , 2 Stock Dove and around 8 Linnet.3 Buzzard
 The patch list is now 69

Its been a few days since my last posting, due to work I have had very little time to survey the patch ,only managed two small visits and there appears only small changes birdwise although all the trees and hedges are busting out. Anyhow I aim to get out early am and cover the patch early before any other people are about.
 A n obvious thing to report was the Barn Owl that passed down the lane this morning at 7.55am. We now have 2 singing Blackcap ,about 5 Chiffchaff and a couple of Willow Wablers have sung. There were 8 Buzzards together and linnets are back with 8 today .Just a single Swallow over north  this evening .
But I will do as proper job in the morning so expect a mega update tommorrow.

With the first Swallows yesterday and the sun shinning and a singing Chiffchaff outside the house , I was off early full of hope. In the event it was really a quiet walk  . A Raven was over calling and up to 6 singing Skylark were about.
Buzzards numbered 3 and 2 Red Legged Partridge were in the field edges. Chiffchaff numbered just 3 and 7 Linnet passed over . There was also 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker drumming and 4 Stock Dove were displaying.
On the sheep fields there was 20 plus Common Gull  with 25 plus Lesser Black Backed Gulls .
In the village around midday a newly arrived Willow Warbler announced its arrival with it"s song. Spring has now arrived
THe patch list is now 67

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 .