When You Wait Ages for a Bus...

A dawn walk to the Mill Lakes proved very productive, adding seven patch ticks including three that I should have had a long while ago. Just after 5:30am, I set off over the Pit Tip, where I'd expected to be the only sole in sight, but to my surprise there were two dome tents pitched on the top... still nobody to be seen though - and barely any birds either. However, the Skylark were up before me, and at least three were singing away quite loudly. I got onto one of them before moving on to the far side of the Plantation and down the hill... nothing else but crows around at that time.

At the cut through to Dawson's Corner I could see the bridge was still down, but the stream was dry and nothing was stopping me from walking through or jumping over the ditch. As soon as I came out on the far side I was instantly drawn to one of the small shrubs which held my first Whitethroat - a singing male - showing very well and enabling me to get some footage for the record. Heading on towards the western entrance I picked up another singing male on the tall hedge at the far side. This time, not so obliging for footage. This area seems to be a great spot for warblers, so I'll try to make more of it in the summer. I think there's potential for some good footage on an early morning, with some patience.

At the Mill Lakes I headed to the Reedbed first. Scanning over the reeds produced nothing at first, but then some movement near one of the small trees in the middle caught my eye. Two Willow/Marsh Tit were flicking about between the reeds and the tree. They weren't around or still enough for me to determine the presence of any wing bar, but based on likelihood at the Mill Lakes I opted for probable Willow Tit, putting the apparently shiny black caps down to being breeding plumage.

Back out at the lake, two Grey Heron were flying around - I think being mobbed by a crow. A single Cormorant flew over to the north and I spent some time scanning the water. Very little seemed to be around today. I started to make my way around anti-clockwise when I bumped into Ralph. We walked back towards the Reedbed, stopping off to glimpse one of the Grey Heron nests, which held at least three young.

There was nothing to be seen at the Reedbed now, but heading over the Vehicle Bridge and up the far side, Ralph put me on to a male Reed Bunting on the far bank. We took the back route, it being apparently better for warblers, and this was proved correct. Aside from a pair of Jay, Ralph heard a Blackcap, and a few Chiffchaff were singing their name. At the north end of the lake two Lesser Black-backed Gull (another patch tick) flew over to the north.

I'd been telling Ralph about some of the "easy" patch birds, which had so far eluded me: Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail and Stock Dove. He'd seen the former already this morning, just before meeting me, on the grassy area between the Willow Carr and the Main Entrance near to where they're suspected to breed. We headed there to wait for the others and sure enough along comes a Mistle Thrush a few minutes later. After Norman and Julie arrived, we stood around chatting for a bit, which turned out well for me when a brightly-coloured male Yellowhammer landed in a nearby willow tree. We had some good views and, I got some good footage, before hearing that they were quite unusual for that area - so another nice patch tick for me.

On the way to the Leen Pastures I had a Song Thrush in a tree on the Railway Embankment by the first rail bridge and the others heard a singing male Blackcap near the inlet pipe, which appeared for me to patch tick it after a minute or so. Further up the ride we all got a single Barn Swallow, and two Jay were around (probably the same two seen earlier).

At the Leen Pastures, the feeders were empty and nothing was around, so I popped up to the Railway Line. After seeing very little, I was about to climb down when the others were coming up... Norman had heard a Lesser Whitethroat singing along the embankment, so we all went for a look. Despite hearing a few, none were positively seen. Julie had two Linnet that flushed out over the Golf Course, and I probably got onto one before it disappeared, but not well enough for a patch tick. Everyone put me onto a Stock Dove flying out over the Golf Course (and another one later, too), getting another "easy" tick for me, and a little later I finally got a Pied Wagtail too.

At the point the Railway Line crosses the Leen, Ralph and I spotted a male Kestrel sat on the bridge, which moved away as we approached, only for Ralph to relocate mating with a female on the TV ariel of a nearby house! Both birds were looking quite bulky to me and seemingly more impressive than usual.

It was getting quite late - at least for me - I'd been out for four hours, so I decided to head back. The others came too and Julie got a LBJ warbler at the side of the track - probably a Chiffchaff (we'd heard them around here earlier), but it'd disappeared before we got good views.

After departing from the group, I headed back along the side lane getting another Willow Tit and getting more Canada Goose and Greylag Goose in the adjacent field. Whilst walking through the paddock at Broadvalley Stables I got another Pied Wagtail (what do they say about waiting ages for a bus?) and a Goldfinch. In Big Wood I picked up a single Nuthatch just before Alexandra Lodge. I stopped by to drop off my payment for the bird report and mentioned the Whitethroats to Steve, but I didn't have time to stop and chat, and he looked busy anyway. On the final stretch I didn't stop to look for anything, but got a single Jay to finish the morning, and made it home before 10am for a late breakfast.