Pair of Stiff Tails

First thing on the Pit Tip Top a Meadow Pipit was on the main ride, and a Blackcap was singing on the woodland edge, whilst a group of five Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over to the north east. At the Reedbed, an adult male Reed Bunting flew up from the reeds to a tree in the middle, but there was no sign of any of the Reed Warbler. A pair of Garden Warbler were on the island closest to the Willow Carr, and a male Gadwall was still at the north end of the lake. A pair of Ruddy Duck were present, and I was lucky enough to see the male displaying to the female (rather than to another male, like last year!). A male Blackcap was feeding in the nettles opposite the Dipping Ponds gate, and two adult Carrion Crow were mobbing a Magpie at the north end, with a recently-fledged juvenile hiding in the long grass, and seemingly unable to fly off.

Over at the Golf Course, a male Kestrel flushed from the ground in the south-west corner, and there were still no signs of any young around the Mute Swan nest, but the pair were still at the nest. A Mistle Thrush was on the nearby fairway, and another was back at Broad Valley Stables' Horse Paddock , with a single Tree Sparrow calling from a tree along the path.