I made a visit Sunday morning where despite some nice sunshine, the wind was as strong as ever which made for some testing conditions. birds noted walking around from first light included 25 Mallard, 3 Moorhen, 5 Whimbrel (108) were picked up in flight flying north before coming down in one of the recently ploughed fields. There were 5 Lesser Black backed Gull, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 3 Sedge Warbler, 4 Reed Warbler, 3 Swallow, 1 Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff, 6 Cetti's Warbler, 7 Blackcap, 7 Whitethtroat, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Yellowhammer and 3 Reed Bunting. Recording has been hard of late at night due to the strong winds but I did record a couple of times which produced nothing of note which is disappointing although I did hear 1 Bittern booming and 1 Cuckoo calling as I collected the recorder this morning. I would expect to be picking up the odd wader by now so it's either bad luck on my part or the birds simply aren't moving over the area. Still a lot to play for with quite a few species still expected to be seen and always the hope of a bonus bird recorded during the night passing over.

Reed Bunting

Sedge Warbler

Birding Saturday in pleasant windless conditions from first light until 09:30 produced 2 Greylag Geese, 1 Water Rail, 1 Coot, 1 Common Gull, 1 Lesser Black backed Gull, 1 Bittern booming early morning from the Stour Valley, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 3 Kestrel, 1 Raven, 1 Skylark, 6 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 5 Cetti's Warbler, 5 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Stonechat, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Yellowhammer and 7 Reed Bunting.  Sunday Morning dawned bright again with little wind. As I was collecting the recorder I could hear 1 Cuckoo (104) calling in the distance. There were 5 Greylag Geese, 2 Shelduck (105) flew in from the east and then flew north inland, 1 Water Rail, 2 Mediterranean Gull south calling, 2 Lesser Black backed Gull, 1 Grey Heron, 3 Common Buzzard, 1 Tawny Owl heard, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 3 Jay, 1 Raven, 4 Skylark, 9 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 3 Swallow, 2 Willow Warbler, 11 Chiffchaff, 14 Cetti's Warbler, 7 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat (106) sang from the western boundary, 1 Mistle Thrush, 3 Stonechat, 1 Wheatear, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Yellowhammer and 13 Reed Bunting. Recording last night (Sunday) produced a Tawny Owl and a distant Nightingale (107) which is singing a few hundred metres out of the patch boundary but obviously can be heard within the boundary so therefore countable. I will hopefully hear it at the weekend all being well if I'm out early or late. 

Sedge Warbler

Yellow Wagtail

Nightingale

 

A generally quiet week with the weather seemingly unsettled until today where the temperatures felt quite warm out there. Birds of note throughout the week included another Wheatear I'm pretty sure compared to the bird on Sunday. This bird seemed to have a much whiter supercillium above the eye. Other than the usual common species noted, there have been 1 Water Rail, 1 Coot, 1 Bittern heard booming early morning from the Stour Valley, 3 Marsh Harrier, 4 Kestrel, 2 Raven, 7 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 7 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Brambling, 3 Yellowhammer and 11 Reed Bunting. Today there were 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Red Kite high North, c10 Common Buzzard, 1 Jay, 2 Raven, 5 Skylark, 8 Chiffchaff, 5 Sedge Warbler, 5 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Stonechat and 2 Bullfinch. Butterflies noted included 1 Large White, 3 Orange Tip, 4 Peacock, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Green veined White and 1 Small Tortoiseshell. 'Nocmig recording at night when the weather allowed was surprisingly quiet with nothing of note recorded but the Badgers continue to show well on the trail camera but the Beavers continue to elude the cameras at night. I will continue to persevere with them as I'm hoping eventually I will connect with them. 

Wheatear 

Marsh Harrier - male