August 5th 2009

Last night was humid with heavy rain which meant at first light I was unable to check my traps so just covered them up to prevent the local Blackbirds from helping themselves and went back to bed.
I surfaced again mid-morning to the delightful sight of a male Redstart in the garden for the second year in a row but this individual was very elusive due to the weather and briefly showed twice. Early afternoon when the rain finally stopped a large flock of small birds went through the garden and included 19 Long-tailed, 6 Great, 12 Blue and 4 Coal Tit plus 2 Goldcrest and a Whitethroat. Nearly all were juveniles.
Early evening visit to the pond produced a Sanderling in biggen bay, 3 Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Goosander, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and 2 Green Woodpecker. The gull roost was already forming and contained juv Med Gull and 5 Yellow-legged Gulls.

Richard