Met up with John bright and early at Warkworth ( John's patch, but Patch #2 for me) to see if the foul weather yesterday had shuffled the birds around a bit. And had it! Spring had finally sprung with a veritable smorgasbord of new arrivals that saw John ticking away like a good'un!
First up, in the car park, a Lesser Whitethroat gave us a run around as it rattled away in the scrub, soon to be joined by a slightly more obliging Garden Warbler. Down in the reed bed, 2 Sedge Warblers were in competition with a Reed Warbler. These birds were singing against a backdrop of Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat.
Over head a steady passage of hirundines went north giving John House Martin and Swift as new year birds. I missed the Swifts as my bins were locked in the car! Dont ask...
Down on the estuary and pools some nice waders were in evidence - Greenshank, always scarce in spring, Whimbrel, Black tailed Godwit and a summer plumaged male Ruff had dropped in with 46+ Ringed Plover and 120+ Dunlin. A Wheatear flew up the salt marsh.
All in all John added 9 new species to his list during the morning, plus a hunting Barn Owl and Little Egret, it was a good morning to be out...
A walk around the patch this evening had 2 singing Sedge Warblers and a calling Cuckoo near the pond field. All good stuff...
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| LtR - Lesser and Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler |
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| Distant Greenshank |
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| Muslin |
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| Oak-tree Pug |
115. Sedge Warbler
116. Cuckoo
1 comment:
Nice photos Stewart.
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