This week a noticable incoming of our Spring migrant birds has been taking place. Tuesday 15th,at Arcot and 3 Willow Warblers and 5 chiffchaffs were in song , and a Grasshopper Warbler reeled in constant view from a sparsely leafed bush. A Green woodpecker called loudly from the distant woods . I was back there on\u00a0 the 19th\u00a0 ,and a pair of House Martins and a Swallow hawked above the pond. Willow Warbler numbers had increased to 8 and 2 Blackcaps sang.The Green Woodpecker was now yaffling in plain view from a dead tree.<\/p>\n
At St. Mary’s this week 1-2 Grasshopper Warblers were in and Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were passing through. 6 Skylarks were singing and a total of 11 male Reed buntings was a good count,as they establish territories.\u00a0 At Beacon Hill on the 15th, my first Redstart of the year,with a superb male heard calling,then seen as he began singing. Here 12 Willow Warblers were in song in between foraging for insects and 10 Chiffchaffs noted with 4 Blackcaps,Swallow and Willow Tit. Back here on the 19th, and a cool,bright morning had seen an increase in Willow Warbler numbers\u00a0 to 20+, a couple of pairs already inspecting potential nesting sites on the ground. The Redstart count doubled ,with another splendid male seen well.Among the resident birds, were 2 Willow Tits, 5 Yellowhammer males, 6 singing Skylarks,3 Buzzards , a few Redpolls and Linnets, singing Nuthatches and Treecreepers. Then a Tree Pipit sang from a heath and was seen well-another year first!<\/p>\n
On up to Branton and 3 House Martins seen from the car, as Swallows were back at all the farms I passed. Sand Martins now in good numbers with 20 at Branton and a further 30 upstream from here. 20 singing Willow Warblers noted here and 5-6 Redpolls. A Great crested Grebe was on the open water and the Black headed gull colony was in full swing. 7 Yellowhammers noted here too. Into the Ingram valley and 5 newly arrived\u00a0Common Sandpipers noisily sparred for riverside territories. Yet more Willow Warblers noted here -nice to see them still so abundant. Oystercatcher, Redshank and Ringed Plover noted in the valley. In one flowering tree, a dozen Peacock butterflies and 9 Tortoiseshells fed in the sun.<\/p>\n
Up to Harthope next, where a pair of Dippers and Grey Wagtails were photographed as they fed young. 8 Song Thrushes counted , including a pair feeding\u00a0 young. Again, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs back in force -my day total for both\u00a0 topped 100 each. Red Grouse called from the hillsides and then another year first in the shape of 5 Ring Ousels seen in one area, 3 of which were together( 2 females). 2 male Wheatears, Grey Wagtail, another Dipper, Redpolls and Meadow Pipits and Skylarks also seen.<\/p>\n
At one site today in the south east\u00a0a pair of Ringed Plover were nesting,then a splendid Little ringed Plover was spotted very close to me. It then began calling on the ground and took off to perform\u00a0\u00a0it’s display flight,calling as it circled above. The object of his display was spotted , as his mate crouched not 20 yards from me! I quietly backed away to leave them in peace. I heard of another pair at a different site too today.<\/p>\n
Along the old waggonways to Holywell, nice views were had this week\u00a0of a singing Lesser Whitethroat and then my first Whitethroat of the Spring both on the 18th. Here a dozen Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were in, as were 7-8 Blackcaps.<\/p>\n
A.S.Jack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week a noticable incoming of our Spring migrant birds has been taking place. Tuesday 15th,at Arcot and 3 Willow Warblers and 5 chiffchaffs were in song , and a Grasshopper Warbler reeled in constant view from a sparsely leafed bush. A Green woodpecker called loudly from the distant woods . I was back there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4013,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010\/revisions\/4013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}