I had some work to finish off this morning so only headed to the patch just before lunchtime, expecting to just do a quick round in the cold winds before heading to the shelter of the hide at Beddington. During migration periods, it is customary to check Slangs, a sunken gravel bridleway bordered by one of the farm's only healthy hedgerows, and as I started through the gate there my ear caught a
Lesser Whitethroat singing further down. It turned out to be a bit of a skulker, of course, but did come out in the open for a couple of minutes at one point. This species can be quite scarce in some years so I was pretty chuffed. Just as I was heading back to the car, Paul M appeared on the lane so we headed back down to take another look at the whitethroat and while waiting for it to show, a
Yellow Wagtail called overhead but things got even better when a cronking sound and calls from mobbing corvids had us running to the nearest clear spot to see a
Raven being escorted off site by local
Carrion Crows. Three good patch year ticks in one place! A
Red Kite, or perhaps two, flew over, as did two
Canada Geese and six
Swallows.
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| ♂ Lesser Whitethroat |
