Back to the Patch and reality!!

 With the weather forecast looking fairly poor for the afternoon and the final day of the footy looming, all to play for in the fantasy league!! I felt an early start would be needed today and then I stayed up half the night watching Eurovision!!! I feel for us to have any success in this competition in future we have got to stop letting the sort of people who vote in reality shows pick our entry it inevitably ends with us sending the bland boring crap  that might have come 5th in the 80s but has no chance now! We then moan when we don't get any points, sure maybe Brexit played a role or more likely our Governments boorish, arrogant, ignorant handling of the negotiations, but remember no one votes against a song, they just don't vote for it! For me we need to go hardcore Thrash Metal or Grime/Drill type stuff to have any chance. Finland, Italy and Ukraine all did well in the public vote with more extreme music, indeed if Finland had glammed up a bit they would probably have Won, although it has to be said the Juries must be made up of tone deaf idiots, Switzerland?? Really!!   Alternatively we could do a "Germany" and send a bloke dressed up in an inflatable sex toy, in a pair of Union Jack underpants belting out a Chas n Dave type tune😲😂!! At least it would be a laugh. 

I have also convinced myself that the girl in the Italian Band was actually Suzi Quattro but could be wrong!!😂

So I found myself "on Patch" at 7.30 rather than the anticipated 5.30 but there you go!! I was alone Margie suffering the Eurovision tiredness and also some aches and pains from a hoovering related incident (don't ask!!!😲)  Started well with a Buzzard on a Pole and a Common Whitethroat singing from the top of a tree at the start of the "glades"

Common Buzzard (heavily cropped)

Common Whitethroat

The Glades were quiet as usual, only a single Chiffchaff calling and a few Wrens skulking about. Think in general things were pretty quiet many birds will be nesting and therefore not advertising their presence. Thrushes much quieter now saw a couple shoot across the path, likewise Blackbirds, Robins and Dunnocks, couple of Nuthatches flying around as well.

Skulky Song Thrush

Harassed looking Nuthatch

The view opened up, a Cuckoo called distantly but no amount of scanning could spot him, did see a distant Red Kite and my first Beautiful Demoiselle of the year, one of my favourite insects

Beautiful Demoiselle

Red Kite

Red Kite

Common Buzzard showing white rump and I never felt for a minute it was anything else, honest guv!!

Everywhere was pretty quiet with the "you should have been here 2 hours" ago kinda vibe going on, Treecreeper corner had no Treecreepers although there was a deer munching the hedge, and Wagtail field had no Wagtails, however it did have several Swallows zipping about which I didn't bother to attempt pics of!!

I walked up the hill towards the vineyard where a couple of Skylarks were singing, miles up in the sky though and a couple of Greylags flew through in the usual noisy manner!!

Roe Deer having a munch

Greylag flypast

Wolstonbury Hill

The Church

Skylark in the clouds

The Vineyard was notable for a flock of Linnets and a few Goldfinch, which were difficult to get near!!

Bluebells

Linnets

Spot the odd one out

Linnet

Goldfinch

The area below the Vineyard held little although there were a couple of Common Whitethroats singing and chasing each other around, no sign of any Yellowhammers here, they held territory in this area last year, in fact I was musing to myself that on this walk that I hadn't seen Yellowhammer in any of the areas I'd seen them in last year when a nice male flew out of the hedge to my right, across the path into the either thicker hedge on my left!!Where it steadfastly refused to come out!! The photo below is a tribute to the skills of my optician!! Taken on manual!!!

Yellowhammer

This cheered me up a bit, with the weather on the turn I headed back to the car, As I reached the car, faintly, on the wind I heard the song of another Yellowhammer, scanning down the road I saw the bird sitting on the wires, with a couple of pigeons, a bloke walked right underneath them, the pigeons took off the Yellowhammer didn't move, right I thought, dreams of frame-filling Yellowhammer shots flitting through my mind, locked the car, crossed the road got halfway to the bird when a kin great truck went past!! Cue Yellowhammer leaving stage right!! Denied!!!😡😀At which point it started raining😢 

Yellowhammer at least I got a record shot

So a fairly typical local walk, seems a lot quieter than last year although that might be because of the weather we have at the moment, don't envy the birds trying to raise a nest full in hurricane winds and driving rain!!

When I got home I made an organic Coffee and Walnut cake for Tea