An upsetting safari to Patch 1 this morning. We were a little later than normal, for some reason, can’t think why?!?, Frank had a lie in and didn’t get up until the second snooze on the alarm clock. Had he been his normal chirpy early morning self we have seen our favourite leucistic Blackbird alive and kicking rather than dead on the grass. Looks like he’s been a victim of the Sparrowhawk, a few puncture wounds and the early stages of plucking.
The white blob is feathering not the results of plucking.
The perpetrator of this heinous crime was probably disturbed at the kill by our usual early morning doggy friends. Almost nothing else to report on a morning where you could see your breath it was that cold. Going through the rough bit the Lesser Whitethroat rattled away to our right and the ‘ordinary’ Whitethroat scratched its useless ‘tune’ to our left but not a lot else. The park proper held the Chiffchaff but no Wood Warblers…if only…On Patch 2 we bumped in to FB again. He’s only just arrived but didn’t really rate the conditions. He wasn’t wrong within ten minutes or so it was fairly obvious that nothing was moving. A Grey Seal wasn’t too far off the wall but a Gannet and 12 Common Scoters were only just this side of the horizon. Six of last years Mute Swans flying south a hundred yards out were a useful Walking Tick (#87).
The lunchtime session was short but far from sweet - absolutely b*gger all.
Our evening walk around Patch 1 gave us a surprise - the Peregrine was back on the tower. Unfortunately the local firebugs have been setting fire to the bottom of the ancient hedgerow that the Lesser Whitethroat was singing from. Glad it's back in the bushes it nested in last year but we do need some rain to get the lusher vegetation going and know these stupid arsonists on the head before they do some serious damage.
Where to next? More of the same...will there be a Wood Warbler tomorrow morning...doubt it?
In the meantime let us know if there have been fires in your outback recently.
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