The Love of Patching!

For the last couple of weeks, birding has been focused on the patch, so that my patch total for the year has the greatest chance of increasing as much as possible.

The first Little-ringed Plovers came in on the 6th April, with 3 present up to a week ago...

The first Swallow was also on the 6th, with the first 2 singing Blackcaps on the 7th. The first Willow Warbler was in at Wildwood on the 10th too. The first Nightingales were singing on the 15th along with the first Whitethroat and House Martins...

The first Sand Martins were feeding on the 19th, with Garden Warblers and the first possible 'Greenland' Wheatear was present on the 21st...

The first singing Lesser Whitethroat was present at Wildwood on the 22nd, and the first calling Tawny Owl, Hobby, Greenshank and Redshank on the 24th.

Redshank record shot

Then, a very productive 'tour' around the patch with David Walsh produced Sedge Warbler (scarce on patch), Cuckoo, Reed Warbler and Swift on he 26th. 

On the 29th April, my luck was in as I found a cracking Yellow Wagtail. All the following shots are phone-scoped.

A good record was a Red Kite over Brewery Farm, Earl Stonham the Saturday just gone, and first my returning Spotted Flycatcher came back to the usual wood by my school on yesterday.

Bird of the month so far though was undoubtedly today, as I was walking out from school, a pair of Sandwich Terns passed over flying north! That's an incredible record for the patch, and takes my total to 103 species. That is already 3 more than my total last year!

Happy Birding (and patching)!

Stoat at Stowmarket

Had a stoat run across the road this morning in Stowmarket near Lakeside Fisheries. Delightful animals Stoat, but very dangerous to it's prey. Also, Yellow Wagtail and Redwing movement is rising again in Stowupland, and I also had 2 Reed Bunting flying over Stowmarket 9 Hole Golf Center too, so this shows migration is active.

Happy Birding!

Catching Up!

Really sorry about the delay of blog updates. I shall start off when we all went to the Tesco in Stowmarket on the 19th April to see the wagtail roost, as up-to 3 of each Yellow and White had been included with the Pieds. We waited about 10 minutes, and in they came. We immediately spotted a Yellow Wagtail fairly close to the van. A couple of White Wagtails stayed distant.

We all then headed for a bit of local birding on Sunday, going to Bosmere and Alderson Lakes. The Great-crested Grebe was on the nest, and I have also found a Canada Goose and Blue Tit nest which seem active, so I'll keep an eye on them. Wildlife at Bosmere included 

Chiffchaff, 

Blackcap (new for the year),  

Treecreeper, 

2 Tufted Duck, 

2 Great-crested Grebe, 

Peacock Butterfly, 

House Martin, 

Grey Heron,

Sparrowhawk

Green Woodpecker

Goldcrest

Jay

A shy but vocal Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Jay

We then went to Alderson Lake, and we saw;

Willow Warbler x 4

Tufted Duck x 2

Great-crested Grebe x 2

Blackcap

There has been a vocal Lesser Whitethroat near my bustop for about 3 days now every morning when I get the bus, but I haven't had the chance to see it. So I went to go and see if I could find it this evening. I got decent views when it came out into the open, but not good enough views for a pic. Got Common Whitethroat this morning by the other bus top with my first Swift flying over.

Happy Birding!