Saturday's Bird walk

At 5am we met in the car park, it was dry and calm and the first birds were just starting to sing ROBIN and BLACKBIRD were the first on the list. We added birds reasonably quickly as the light improved. By 6.30am we were on 38 species including a male SPARROWHAWK with a BLUE TIT in it's talons, a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER called nearby but we couldn't locate it, a JAY flew along a hedge and we managed to find a nice male REED BUNTING in song.
After the coffee break we headed round the fields, the COMMON WHITETHROAT sang, there was nothing in the new pond but a pair of YELLOWHAMMERS were seen in the hedge just beyond the pond. The walk made it's way into Digdog Lane, we heard NIGHTINGALE, saw 3 COMMON BUZZARDS and then the highlight of the morning whizzed by in the form of a PEREGRINE. There were plenty of SKYLARKS singing and after we added GOLDFINCH and GREENFINCH just before breakfast at 9am we had reached 50 species. Another enjoyable walk with a great mix of people and amazingly we stayed dry!!
Later I spent from 4.30- 6pm looking across the valley, 5 BUZZARDS were seen 2 COMMON GULLS, 3 LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, 2 HERRING GULLS, a CORMORANT and 2 SWALLOWS, so 55 species total but nothing new for the year, there is still loads to come.