Sunday 1 May 2016

Once again, it was an early start this morning as I drove over and arrived at Nethergong at 4.40am where there was quite a heavy frost and it felt pretty cold! I sat in the car until 5am listening to the dawn chorus before parking up and then spending the next five and a half hours walking the circuit three times in glorious sunshine filled skies. I managed to see or hear 60 species which included one new year tick in the shape of a single Common Tern (97) which flew through north and thankfully showed out well in the blue skies. Birds noted today included 3 Cuckoo together chasing each other and they appeared every now and then throughout the session and I even managed an effort of one as it saw me and banked the other way making for an interesting photo.

Cuckoo

There were 3 Pheasant, 5 Reed Bunting, 3 Sedge Warbler, c30 Cormorant, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Little Owl, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Kestrel, 2 Marsh Harrier, 6 Whitethroat, 1 Nightingale, 7 Blackcap, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Green Woodpecker, 5 Chiffchaff and 2 Grasshopper Warbler reeling. Also seen were 2 Grey Heron, 6 Mute Swan, 1 Jay, 5 Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Warbler, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 10 Swallow, 2 Bullfinch and 1 Little Egret. Other birds making the notebook today included 1 Treecreeper, 4 Greylag Geese, 2 Skylark, 1 House Martin, 3 Swift, 1 Turtle Dove, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Sand Martin, 4 Long tailed Tit and 2 Linnet.

Yellowhammer

The list slowly moves on and I hoped in the last hour with a sky watch that I might have seen a few raptors to add but it was not to be. A thoroughly enjoyable session again, plenty to see and a few more photos and i'm already looking forward to the the next session. No visit tomorrow as its my birthday and after two early mornings, I might treat myself to a small lay in! 

4 comments:

  1. Ah! So that's a cuckoo! :-) Happy Birthday for tomorrow!

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  2. Love that Cuckoo photo, Marc, and blue skies are something of a rarity around here! Hope you had that lie in and enjoy a day off work and some fun. Happy birthday!

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    1. Many thanks. The lay in was good. Nice to have a day off for my birthday.

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