Wednesday 19 May 2010

Summer on its way.

At last the temperatures seem to be rising after the cool north winds of early May. The only bird sightings of note were 3 Common Sandpipers on the 5th and 8 Yellow Wagtails and 3 Sedge Warblers on the 6th May. A Grasshopper Warbler was still reeling at Bagworth heath on the 18th and a pair of Lesser Whitethroat were seen.

Monday 3 May 2010

Dipped??

The final migrants have been arriving with 4 Swifts and a Sedge warbler on the 26th April and a Garden warbler on May 1st. Highlight was a probable female Marsh Harrier that flew north at 1900 on 27th April. A Grasshopper warbler was reeling below the dam on 28th. Today, a second hand report of what sounded like a Common Crane at about 9am got my pulse racing. The observer said that he heard the bird before he saw it and that it was like a "Heron on steroids!!" It flew away to the north. D.W. and I checked fields between Thornton and Stanton, but it was not until I checked Birdguides that I realised that I might have dipped a Thornton first. A Common Crane was at Ogston res. at 11.11, and I am sure a crane could easily make the 70 miles in two hours.