Monday 22 April 2013

The Weekend

After a visit Friday morning produced a NIGHTINGALE (78), I was looking forward to a decent weekend walk. On Saturday Stephen saw Cuckoo, Redstart and Yellow Wagtail! so my hopes were high for Sunday.
Arriving later than planned, around 7am, one of the first birds I heard was a LESSER WHITETHROAT (79) it showed briefly with a BLACKCAP then disappeared towards Park Field. I thought, what a good start, there was plenty to see NUTHATCHES sung or called almost constantly, I found a TREECREEPER taking nest material to it's perfect hanging piece of bark. A LESSER REDPOLL flew over and LONG TAILED TITS had the same idea as the Treecreeper and were flying around with the odd feather in their beaks. I sporadically checked the skies for Osprey or Red Kite but to no avail, there were again, at least 5 BUZZARDS in the area and  eventually I found something different when a PEREGRINE glided through. A KINGFISHER was on the bottom lake and the NIGHTINGALE again sung from it's favourite spot where a LITTLE OWL popped up for a quick look around. Only 2 SWALLOWS were seen all morning but as I watched across the valley 4 SAND MARTIN (80) flew north, they were soon followed by the welcome sound of a CUCKOO (81) calling from the bridleway. In all 55 species were seen and as ever I missed a couple of regulars from that list, later in the day a visit to Goudhurst did produce a Red Kite!!! still time for one to show up here they can be seen up to the end of May passing through. Below are a selection of pics from the last few days.

Little Owl

Yellowhammer

Long Tailed Tit

Common Whitethroat

Woodpigeon



Chiffchaff

14 comments:

Mike H said...

Sounds and looks like a great weekend Alan.

ShySongbird said...

That was a very rewarding weekend Alan. You certainly saw a nice array of birds. Lovely photos, I loved the Little Owl.

Phil said...

I imagine you are pretty much due South from me Alan, so my Red Kite at the weekend could have passed over your patch.

Warren Baker said...

You're racking up the migrant species now Alan, thought I might have Lesser throat here by now, but none yet !

Stephen Mills said...

It was a good weekend for you Alan.
Nightingales are very uncommon here.

Noushka said...

Great pics and great spottings!
I also love the 3rd pic before the end, what a lovely shot!
Cheers!

Millhouse Photography said...

Lovely Little Owl, Alan.

Rohrerbot said...

The Little Owl is really a lot like the Burrowing Owl in appearance....well slightly different....but the similarities are uncanny!

Helma said...

Hello Alan,

sorry for my late response but I was a week without internet.
Beautiful votls shows you again that I'm a beejte jealous of your owl;-) What a beautiful creature that anyway. The yellowhammer state look amazing. And so sweet that tail tit with that feather in its beak. A compliment for this wonderful series.
Regards, Helma

Rachel J said...

I'm running very behind with keeping up with the blog Alan but really lovely photos! Note to self: must get out and catch up with a nightingale before it's too late!

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