10th May

A much quieter week, migration seems to have slowed but numbers for some species such as Swallows still seem well down. I did see my first Swifts though with a single bird over the village green on the 5th and a dozen birds screaming over the house the next day...

I also finally ticked off my first House Martins with singles in Thrintoft and Morton. The only other birds of note this week were a Peregrine circling very high over the village on the 4^th and my second Sedge Warbler of the year singing vigorously away from thick vegetation in a field ditch on Langlands.

So photos will have to be restricted to common species like Yellowhammer…

And Reed Bunting

The other regular bunting, Corn, seems to be having a relatively good year with a total of 14 birds heard singing over the last couple of weeks. 

In contrast it seems to be a particularly poor year for Lapwings, I have only seen two displaying birds so far. I don’t know if this is a feature of the very dry weather, lack of food, different crop regimes or what but it’s worrying.

In lockdown garden birding what we have had are regular garden visits by corvids. It started with Jackdaws who have learned how to feed on the fat balls. Up to half a dozen have visited, one to hang on the feeder and break up the fat balls and the others picking the pieces up below. A couple of Magpies and the odd Carrion Crow have joined them and even small numbers of Rooks who are normally notoriously wary…

I have also been joining the many lockdown birders sitting in their gardens scanning the skies for birds of prey. Buzzards are regular and I have had Sparrowhawk and Kestrel over but no hoped for Osprey. Mind you cloud watching was quite enjoyable in itself…  

Night sky wasn’t too bad either…

Elsewhere this Shelduck was still zealously guarding his ‘pool’

Someone is going to have to tell him…

Hares again have been almost constant companions including this one doing a reasonable impression of a young Wallaby…

Other mammal watching this week has turned up three Roe Deer, a Stoat and a Fox which popped out of a hedge about three feet in front of me. I don’t know who was more surprised but instead of bolting away it loped along the path watching me over its shoulder as it went and then as soon as there was a slight bend in the path it shot off like a rocket. By the time I had switched my camera on this is all I managed...

I will finish with one word of warning. If you walk into a small piece of woodland following the sounds of what you think are deer just ensure it isn't actually a couple of people undertaking their lockdown exercise in a distinctly non socially-distancing form!