Of Birds & Cake the Blog of Paul: Patchwork 2

So first chance to get back on the Patch ,had set the alarm for 5.30 but woke up at 4.45 so was on Patch by 5.00 ,this is AM by the way 😉 Margie had made the decision not to come, allegedly because I was going to try to refind last weeks Spot Fly and she didn't want to spend ages in the same place, but I think basically she wanted to have a lay in!!
Whilst I booted up at the car ,I could hear several Whitethroats singing and a couple of Chiffchaffs calling, through the first field the usual Yellowhammer wasn't on the wires ,but a scan around had him distantly on a Bramble patch, through the crossroads and into the first Glade, the distinctive white rump of a Bullfinch disappearing into the bushes set the tone for this part of the walk with a variety of birds disappearing into the undergrowth before I got a chance to get a pic, Several Song Thrushes, Dunnocks, Wrens and Robins around and plenty of Blackbirds made this an eventful but frustrating part of the walk .
Across the second bridge and turn right , the area opens up nicely it seems very Owly habitat but despite the early hour had no luck ,though to be fair 5.30 was probably a bit late with sunrise at about 4.30 and first light even before that, longest day tomorrow I think so hopefully as the dawn gets later I will have more chance! Still the small birds were waking up now a family of Blackcaps appeared and then just after a family of Nuthatches as well who seemed to be on nodding terms with a young Robin.

Adult Blackcap

Juvenile Nuthatches being supervised by a Juvenile Robin

One of many calling Chiffchaffs

I paid my first visit to the area where I had previously seen the Spot Fly but was no obvious sign, another area which looks like it could well get Owls, after 10 mins with no sign I moved on, although I managed to spot a Green Woodpecker in a dead tree before he saw me and although distant managed a couple of ok pics, in a similar vein, usually skittish birds sitting still for a picture, a Jay posed as well!

Jay

Green Woodpecker

I then decided to head over to the Church ,there are Swallows there and I hoped being early morning they would be sitting still for picture before starting the days feeding activities. On the way there I had what was probably the best encounter of the morning, a Roe Deer stood quietly in the field, now in general when I meet a deer in these circumstances ,it usually takes one look at me and disappear, while I'm trying to get the camera out , not today, froze in position and hardly moved until I was on my way again.

Roe Deer

I arrived at the Church to find the Swallows in flight, zooming about as they do, I was about to give up when they landed ,Hurrah!! However they hadn't read my script, there is a lovely gnarly tree here with a nice sticky out perch, lit up by the early morning sun, the perfect spot for a tired Swallow to rest up while I take pictures. But no they choose to sit on some manky old wire directly in the sun, well they are going to have to up their game if I'm gonna get aesthetically beautiful pics of them!

There were five birds and I think three of them were youngsters. On the return a nice Stock Dove was posing in a large tree in the Churchyard, though I missed the shot of a Robin on a Gravestone which would have been a nice shot! As I headed back to the Spot Fly area again the large hedge alongside the path was alive with birds, mostly juvenile Blue and Great Tits but also another family of Blackcaps and several Chiffchaffs

Juvenile Swallow on wire

Stock Dove

Chiffchaff

Determined to refind the Spot Fly I headed back to the area, as I approached the area , a bird flew out of a tree on my right and caught a Fly, bingo, now normally a Spot Fly would fly back to the original perch, a nice open perch where photography would be easy ,not this bad boy as before the awkward bugger flew straight into the crown of an Oak tree, I eventually found it again ,getting good views in the bins, the problem was of course there were approximately 100 leaf covered twigs between me and the bird, I tried a few shots but the resulting blurred brown blobs were not great, now a sensible person at this point would have gone to manual focus and got some sort of record shot, I however decided a better idea would be to change the angle ,so walked 10 feet to my left to try and find a gap, of course I couldn't refind the bugger from here and when I walked back to the original spot the bugger had gone!! I waited for another 10 minutes, no show, by now the temperature was rising and with it insect activity was growing as well, a Marbled White Butterfly flew up out of the grass fluttered about and dropped back in ,closer examination showed a group of at least ten of these beauties in a small patch. I also found some nice white flowers in this area as well. So as Margie wasn't here I decided to get some pics ,insects and flowers are usually her area so I hope she likes em.

Marbled White

White Flower

I could now hear a Song Thrush going for it in the dead tree which has been quite productive on previous visits, so giving up on the Spot Fly, I relocated around the corner. I'd had a lot of Song Thrushes this morning but they had all been shooting out of and back into hedges/thickets so was nice to get one out in the open having a singsong. At one point a couple of Goldfinches joined him and a Green Woodpecker flew into a nearby tree which was also good.

Green Woodpecker

Goldfinches

Do you mind keeping the noise down I'm trying to sing.

Song Thrush

I decided to head back to the car , a Yellowhammer, was on a distant pile of dead wood with a Whitethroat and another Yellowhammer flew over, Chiffchaffs everywhere and plenty of Whitethroats on the walk back. Seems a lot of species have had breeding success in the area with plenty of Youngsters all over the place.

Yellowhammer with Whitethroat companion

Whitethroat with juicy caterpillar

Singing Whitethroat

Poppy

That was about it home by 8.30 so just over three hours on the patch, looking forward to exploring this area through the year

Garden Update

I came home today to find a Stock Dove under the feeder which makes a change from the collared Doves, Woodpigeons and Ferals I usually get. which has capped a good week with a charm of 5 Goldfinches , a Juvenile Goldfinch visiting the feeders regularly and two young Chaffinches are the first I've seen for a while.