2nd May

I thought I had missed the chance of seeing Wheatear in the parish this year but I picked up a distant bird yesterday evening at the end of Greenhills Lane. However, Wheatears are like buses and down the river this morning…

It’s quite a well-coloured bird with peach underparts and some warm tones in its mantle so is likely to be a far north bird on its way through to Iceland or possibly Greenland. I have also found these northern birds, when spooked, always head higher and this one went straight to the roof of a field barn.

Last night’s Wheatear was joined by six Golden Plover, I think these are the latest records I have ever had in the village. In the gloom of yesterday evening my cheap camera struggled to photograph them but you can get a hint of what handsome birds they are…

Given the date and the very extensive black on its face this bird is likely to be of the northern subspecies ‘albifrons’ and again will be on its way north, probably to Iceland or the Faeroes.

On today’s walk I saw my first Garden Warbler of the year and the excellent spring for Lesser Whitethroats continues with another four singing birds today, almost outnumbering Common Whitethroats. Still no House Martins or Swifts though.

On the river itself it was very quiet other than four Oystercatcher, at least one pair of Yellow Wagtails and two Little Egrets…

I also had a fantastic total of 22 Hares today including ten in a single field, these were still boxing on occasions which I thought was unusual for this late. I photographed this one the other morning, the light wasn’t brilliant hence they aren’t really sharp but they make great shapes…

In recent months I’ve had a growing, but very basic, interest in botany. Unfortunately the parish, being intensively farmed, has a very poor flora. One plant I do see though is Lords and Ladies or the Cuckoo Pint (really pronounced pinnt rather than pynt)  and it seems to have been a really good year for them.

There is normally a single plant in this small spinney but I counted at least 20 this year, they have a vaguely unsettling air about them and it’s not hard to imagine them as fledgling triffids! Incidentally the roots of this plant are what were used to starch Elizabethan ruffs.