Watton Brook Valley

Another very warm day today with highs expected of 27 degrees Celsius, in fact the weekend has been sandwiched between some very hot weather with the heat of last week continuing into the coming week with temperatures in the low 30 degrees Celsius.  This walk this morning was comfortable to start with but soon warmed up by around 1000hrs.
Migrants were once again my target birds for this morning, and it turned out to be a great visit to Watton Brook Valley with the highlight being 4+ Redstarts and several Blackcaps, the latter favouring Elder bushes where some clusters of berries are now ripe for the taking.

3 Buzzards
1 Red Kite
2 Kestrel including a fine 'scoped female
1 Kingfisher
2 Pied Wagtail
5+ Swallows
2 House Martins
4+ Redstarts (Female and juveniles seen)
2 Song Thrush
Blackcaps (many juveniles and females seen)
2+ Whitethroat (adult female and juvenile)
Coal Tit
Greenfinch
Goldfinch

The above species were seen in a relatively small area of rough grassland and old Elder bushes.  The Elders had some clusters of ripe fruits, although most were not quite ready for consumption.  The most abundant species seen in the Elders were Blackcaps, most appeared to be juveniles, but adult females were also present.

Elders in the Watton Brook Valley 5th August (particularly attractive to Blackcaps)

The highlight of the morning was the finding of at least 4 Redstarts (female and juvenile seen), I suspect these birds were local bred birds which have moved from the natal site to search for areas of good feeding in the valley.  A female Redstart remained still enough for a short while for me to appreciate the light brown tones and the gorgeous quivering Orange tail.