Patch Again!!

 So with Margie called into work early my plan to hit the Patch at 5AM was scuppered, as being the attentive, loving partner that I am💖 I decided to give her a lift, as she still feeling a bit dodge from her second jab!😢Also getting up at 6.15 seemed more reasonable all round!😂😂😂! It was also blooming foggy so would of probably been a waste of time getting up early anyway!! 

An exciting day as I would finally be able to wear my fancy-dan new summer trousers that I bought by mistake last November!! (with the birthday voucher the offspring got me!!) "What's so special about them" I hear you cry, well with a flick of the wrist they can become shorts!! Think Bucks Fizz, Eurovision skirt removal  only sexier!!!😲😵💥 (those under 50, google it!!) Although it turns out it's not as simple as that and at time of writing I haven't figured out how to do it!!!😂 This maybe for the best, as my legs ain't the greatest sight for the unprepared!!!

Anyway I was on Patch at 7AM, an hour and a half earlier than last week!! Was quite misty, as said earlier and the birds seemed quiet as a result!!

Misty View

Chiffchaff in the murk

Song Thrush singing despite the mist!

I got to the Patch proper and could already hear the Nightingale, presumably the same one as last week as was in exactly the same place!!

On the way round to the spot, I encountered a Whitethroat and some Starlings, with a bit of an influx of Rosy Starlings going on in the country, I gave every Starling flock I encountered (2) a good grilling without success, although a flyover Great Spotted Woodpecker created a moments excitement til I remembered that (A) Rosy Starlings don't have bright red arses and (B) They don't fly like that anyway !! Amazing how easy it is to see what we want/hope to see!! Quite a few Stock Doves knocking about today, but in general bird numbers of all species still well down on last year!

Stock Dove

Starlings

Whitethroat

So I arrive at the Nightingale spot, said bird is holding fourth mightily, I give it a good 25 minutes moving around the clump of bushes, to achieve various angles, can I get a view? can I? No!!😢😢 Not even the slightest trace of movement, few other birds in there I spot Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Blackbird, etc, etc but no sign of the songster!! Now I know they have a reputation as Skulkers and these bushes are quite thick, and I was spoilt by the Seaford bird, however this bugger must have gone to super-ninja school, the even more annoying thing was he was moving around the bushes singing from different places on several occasions having to move across an area that I'm staring at intently to get from one spot to another and I still didn't clock him or got any sense of movement!! 

 

This Video is of him singing in duet with a Chiffchaff, it's a bit Blair witch project and may make you seasick, but at least it's short (I remembered I have video on the camera rather than the phone, but is blooming heavy to keep still) 

 

So giving up, I hit Church Lane and made the regrettable decision to follow the footpath through North Park Farm to Truslers Hill Lane then back through the fishing lakes to St Bartholomew's Church. Saw nothing of note and the footpaths were very overgrown and soaked my new trousers which by the way don't stop stinging nettles😱😯😮 So 3 house Sparrows, a Moorhen and a Robin and Blue Tit that looked like life was getting the better of em!!

Harassed looking Robin

Blue Tit that looked like I felt at this point!!

Rabbit, yes I know but Margie weren't present and someone has got to take the cute pics!😀

So back at the church the Swallows are flying about refusing to land anywhere photogenic, a Buzzard sitting on a pole, distant but I try my best, the Sun is starting to clear the mist and I decided to give the vineyard a miss and go around the patch again!

Buzzard

Amazingly I can hear the Nightingale singing from the church must be about 1/2 a mile away!! I go around the patch again, the sun seems to have woken  things up a bit, a Song Thrush is battling another Song Thrush in a kind of Rap Battle scenario!! This eventually ends in a chase off but one came quite close to me during the sing off!!

A Buzzard took advantage of the blue sky to have a fly around and a Red Kite flew by, but didn't really come close, I spent another 20mins trying to get a view of the Nightingale ( a matter of pride now!! ) without success!!

Buzzard

Red Kite

Another group of Starlings examined for Rosys!!

Was getting hot now, so decided to head back, the glades which had been devoid of life on the way up, were alive with insects now, large numbers of Beautiful Demoiselles as last week, I have decided that they are my favourite insect, for now at least!! Quite a few Butterflies as well, with a couple of Speckled Woods, some Whites and a Red Admiral of note! Skylarks can be heard along here soaring high above from the fields either side.

Plenty of Flowers in the Glades and Meadows

Beautiful Demoiselle

Red Admiral

That was about it,3 hours hard work really, last year there were Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Bullfinch on practically every visit to the area, this visit I didn't see a single individual, likewise Long-tailed Tit. Great Tit and Blue Tit numbers also well down, everything looks the same except there are no birds😢, even the Kestrel that was here all winter has disappeared, I saw a couple of Swifts today and the Swallows seem about the same but other migrants such as Blackcaps and Whitethroats well down in numbers as well, no Yellowhammers again today, all very worrying perhaps down to the wet spring who knows!!