Wednesday 21 April 2010

A WILLOW WARBLER, seen on the way to work this morning, was only my third record this spring, it's such a pity that my patch has lost this migrant as a breeding species, as it song is one of my favourites.

Back to this afternoon, and a trip to the lakeside scrub to listen for Turtle Doves proved fruitless, as did my hope, of hearing a Nightingale, they are now sadly extinct as a breeding species on my patch, the last known birds bred back in 2007. I did get to hear the other songsters though, even the TAWNY OWL was heard to hoot again! Also, CHIFFCHAFF and BLACKCAP, MISTLE THRUSH and SONG THRUSH, WREN, DUNNOCK, ROBIN and BLACKBIRD all were singing loudly in the warm sunny conditions, there was no sign of the recently arrived Common or Lesser Whitethroats though.

I had a 90 minute wander around Migrant Alley a little later, but apart from the PEREGRINE, a SPARROWHAWK and a pair of KESTRELS it was pretty quiet and tranquil. Butterflies were more active than the birds, with Orange Tip, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock, and Speckled Wood all being recorded.

So another day goes by without adding to the month or year list, just 9 to go. I'll be on the lookout for Swifts, Hobbies, and Turtle Doves, but they are not always recorded in April, and who knows I might get a Stonechat or Whinchat - with a large slice of luck :-)

Above: Comma Butterfly, Below: Speckled Wood



7 comments:

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Strange how it goes , I didn't record a single butterfly today and you got a hatfull .

Lancs and Lakes Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

No speck woods up here yet...swift to the north of us yesterday and an osprey past the office window but I was unfortunately hiding behind the puter...

Cheers

dave

Chris said...

Congrats on your grey wagtail yesterday Warren and nice to see that you are having butterflies. Here it was -5°c this morning and it appears as if the snow was ready to come back...

Phil said...

Virtually no butterflies at Dungeness today Warren too cool and breezy for them I think.

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
Could do with a Willow Warbler over here.
You did better than me at Dunge today for Butterflies, all I saw was one Peacock passing at a rate on knots.
Nice few Raptors on your patch today.

Anonymous said...

The Swifts are in Warren. So it`s only a matter of time.

kirstallcreatures said...

Nice to see the butterflies, today's weather was much better in Leeds and I enjoyed this year's first decent photograph of a Speckled Wood.