5/04/09

local patch

today the warblers hit the headline for me.got onto 4 species of warbler and all but 1(goldcrest) was seen to or at the lake at blackstone.

got out early to avoid the crowds of campers.i was so hoping to get onto some sand martins and possobly the first swallow,house martin or early warblers for lickhill.got to the sand martin colony and scanned and found nothing.walked further upriver to the end of the field and suddenly 3 'hyrundines' aproaching from the south flying upriver.there were 2 smartins and a swallow(an adult which lacked tail streamers).they hawked around for a few minuites and left with the swallow and 1 sand martin flying north and the other lone smartin flying south.just a few hundred metres later and 7 redwings flew over westwards without touching down.halfway between the 2 caravan sites i paused to scan for skylarks.i counted at least 8 birds with 3 singing males.but they always stayed on the top fields and never comes to the fields boardering the river.

at the lake at blackstone the first bird i noted was a redpoll sp.i watched it at a distance through a tree.i know it was a male but was unable to comfirm 'lesser' status.it dissapeared and i was preparing to wait for it to show again when a willow warbler started singing.i was lured towards the potentiol year tick.i found the tree it was singing from but couldent lock onto it.then another started singing.then another,then another.overall i counted at least 20 'willows' from here to lickhill.i did eventually get a lock onto a few of them with one singing in a low bush less than 3 metres from me(year tick).all the ones i saw were quite yellowish and easily seperable from chiffchaff(which were also singing)which all look quite dull.then i decided to take a look at the redpoll again but got another warbler species.this time blackcap(year tick)(nd they were propper 'black'caps with 3 males all showing black caps.i think this song is a blackcaps but would be grateful for help(im not an expert on id ing warbler songs yet, apart from the ones i see regulary or songs that are unmistakable eg cettis warbler)

the goldcrests were again in the same tree and are the same birds (1m 2f).

highlights:

1 kestrel (very good views at close range)

2 smartins

1 swallow

7 redwing

3 blackcap

20+ willow warbler

3 chiffchaff

3 goldcrest

1 redpoll sp

now you remember those mealypolls around lickhill well theres now a pic of one yay :)

soz for nicking the image geoff

this looks almost like the bird in january but not like the pair that visited the garden(they looked an awful lot lighter than this bird,even the female looked paler white than this bird.anyway this bird looks good for mealy and looks a lot like the single bird in january.

next post comin soon and is from sheepwash

good birding

MB