Noisy Cetti's doing well Tuesday 30th april

I watched this male Cetti's Warbler following his mate here there and everywhere while she collected nesting material,  he didn't seem to participate,  only belt out his song with great excitement.   I took this opportunity to get some shots while he was otherwise occupied.  A rare occasion.

Thursday 25th april

We haven't noticed any Lapwings around the Ingrebourne scrape and fields at the moment,  never known that before.  

New additions

Lizard

Adder fodder

Saturday 20th april

Bright sunny warm day,  lets hope there are more of these.  Thanks to Les and shaun saw the smart female Redstart doing what Redstarts do,  catching insects flycatcher style for the big off!    Nature has a way of catching up or winning against the odds.   Everything is looking good,    looking foreward to the coming weeks.    There were a number of Buzzards circling today besides our resident pair.  Loads of warblers about,  and had my first Lesser Whitethroat.

Wheatear in tree?

Pale Woodpigeon

Brimstone

Small Tortoiseshell

Glut of Wheatears

Wonderful, colourful, mesmerising,  great to be able to watch this many;  23 of them I counted yesterday,  I reckon I could have added 10 to that.   There were at least 13 in one group which I could count in a row,  you always miss some,  especially the females which seem to blend in more with the clods of earth and dry grass.   There were still 20 odd today,  all in their groups in the same areas.

Even more wheatears wednesday 4pm

8 more Wheatears in the valley this afternoon with a Whitethroat thrown in singing its head off.   The sun makes all the differance.  The Sun is God.   With my aches and pains eased up for a while,( That wasn't the Sun or God,  that was Ibuprofen)    it was a pleasure to walk round in the warmth and enjoy the wind without cringing.

Monday Migrants 15th april

By the sounds of it the migrants were pouring through today,   I had 4 Wheatears on the hill and another 5 in the top paddock,  Shaun had 14 this evening in the farmers field.      Swallows , House Martins and Sand Martins were making appearances over all the scrapes up and down the valley.   The change in the weather is all they were waiting for,   like us

Fangs for the memory!

Open wide please,

Wider,  those fangs appeared from nowhere.   I was nowhere near this adder,   it was testing its jaw.

Lowestoft Point tuesday 9th april Purple Sandpipers

We were staying in the Lowestoft area for a few days so I dicided to have a look at Ness Point even though the weather was still bitter,  and came across these not too common waders on the rocks.  There were at least 14 of these ungainly looking birds perched on the rocks with the east wind coming straight on to them from the north sea at the most easterly point of the British Isles.  The point has been wellknown over the years for Purple Sandpipers.  Glad I was there.

Garganey arrive in the Ingrebourne Valley

Had to look hard to see this pair of Garganey snoring their heads off on the scrape today at 11.45am,  probably after a long flight.    After a while the drake woke up and started to feed,    the female took another half hour.

Fabulous fowl

A sulking sculking Cetti's Warbler.