Garden notes

A coffee break in the garden late morning produced a couple of pairs of Swifts low over houses, whilst high overhead, both Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were seen.
Our Blackbird pair are now visiting the nest to feed their third brood and a quick check of the Collared Dove nest in the hedge saw a single young bird which is currently about two-thirds grown.
Many Starlings in the garden with full grown youngsters which are now quite confident and showing signs of independence.
Siskins were heard and Goldfinches were seen often in flight giving their 'tinkling' calls.
As my coffee break ended, a female Sparrowhawk made a slow, low level pass over the garden, and looking quite menacing too.

Sparrowhawk (female) making a slow, low level pass over the garden 22nd June.

Garden Warbler

A good mornings birding locally with Cranes, 4+ Little Egrets, 5+ Nuthatches, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers being seen and heard.
I have a lot of catching up to do locally, having been without a car for almost 3 weeks, so it was good to get out and see what changes there has been in my absence.  On the Butterfly front I did see some Large Skippers, a beautiful insect.
A female Cuckoo was both seen and heard giving its brilliant 'bubbling' call.  She will be migrating south soon.
I found a pair of Garden Warblers in traditionally used breeding habitat, song was delivered, as well as an alarm call.  The habitat used is one of Hawthorn and Bramble scrub within open woodland, although my pair were mostly watched in tall Holly.

Garden Warbler 20th June 2020

Much is written about the lack of plumage features on Garden Warbler, although a pale grey neck patch (may be just visible here) is a feature most guides focus on.  Notice here the almost indistinct buffish breast sides which appear to meet on the front of the breast forming a pale band and is demarcated from the whitish underparts.  The bill is strong.
The song of Garden Warbler is easy to separate from its close relative, the Blackcap, once learnt. For me, the song of Garden Warbler rarely has the fluty peaks of the Blackcap, its delivery lasts longer than Blackcap, and it often has the tonal quality of Blackbird.  From range, the song sounds like mumbling, however, it is stunning when listened too at close quarters, it is complex and varied with peaks, but not the high peaks reached in the song of the Blackcap.

A fortuitous work break 16th June

During the afternoon of the 16th June, I decided on taking my work break parked up next to a field of Barley near Wreningham, Norfolk.  There I sat for an hour listening to a Quail singing from within the crop.  A fantastic way to spend a lunch break.

Red Kite

Red Kites are now a familiar sight in Breckland and in the past few days a bird has been patrolling slowly, and low, over mine and adjoining gardens.  Larger than a Buzzard and lacking the bulk, this species appears quite menacing to anyone unfamiliar with this raptor, and its intentions....so don't stay too still if you are sunbathing.

Red Kite 15th June over gardens

A morning for Sylvia's on the patch

The day started grey with what seemed like sea-mist hanging in the air, this however, soon melted away in the warming sun.
This was to be a good morning for listening to and watching Sylvia Warblers in an area of mature hedgerows and low ground cover.  Notably the following highlights were recorded:

1 Goshawk (0907) 2nd year bird
3 Whitethroat territories
1 Lesser Whitethroat
Singing Blackcap
Singing Garden Warbler in low cover

From my arrival Warblers were in fine voice, a Garden Warbler was heard in breeding habitat, along with an nearby Blackcap in woodland.
Not too long after my arrival, I had superb views of a 2nd year Goshawk passing low over open farmland before descending into dense mature woodland.  This was a beautiful bird, large, and still showing brown upperparts of the juvenile bird.

Male Whitethroat 14th June

Male Whitethroat 14th June

Female Whitethroat 14th June

Most of my efforts were given to Whitethroats with a pair watched at a traditionally used habitat of low ground cover with a few higher bushes for song-posts.  Also, a further two males were seen singing and performing song-flight.
A single Lesser Whitethroat often sang, fortunately, later on during my stay I saw a gorgeous bird skulking along the base of a hedge.  The main features of this bird was its grey head and ear-coverts which contrasted strongly with the white throat.  The upper parts were uniform brown lacking any added tonal features.
Also seen this morning was 3 Stock Doves, a single Mistle Thrush, Skylarks, and a Buzzard carrying prey.

Garden notes.

Another grim day of weather with heavy rain at dawn, this relented for a while, then returned again late afternoon along with poor light due to full cloud cover.
Once again, birding today was confined to my garden and surrounds where Blackbirds featured most of the day.
Early morning saw several Siskins being very flighty and noisy, I suspect the pair seen frequently through spring have successfully bred locally in a nearby garden, a great record.
A beautiful juvenile Blackbird was seen, a bird from a first brood of the year, with lovely markings, the head and upperparts were mottled orange/buff, the secondaries were tipped orange/buff, the breast had a buff tone, and the belly appeared quite barred, even scaly looking.  The primaries and tail were unmarked brown.
Our Collared Dove pair are still sitting tight on the nest in my hedge, and I was lucky enough to catch the changeover duties between the male and female birds.
A few Swifts were seen overhead.  There appeared to be no other bird movements when checked.

Garden observations

At the time of writing the garden is full of hungry youngsters, Blackbirds are raising their second brood, the young birds chirping away to be fed.  House Sparrows are also busy feeding young ones, whose pale gape flanges instantly give their age away.

Female Blackbird feeding a youngster in my garden 9th May

And of  course there are the Starlings whose young never cease to amaze me.  Although initially dependant upon their parents upon fledging, they are clearly very quick learners, they follow their parents closely and learn from them, and within very short periods of time they are probing lawns for Leatherjackets.  Young Starlings have also learnt how to react when a threat appears, for example they fly up with their parents and closely shadow a Sparrowhawk as it passes by.

A lovely looking juvenile Starling 9th June

Red Kite and Buzzard at height 9th June

Also noted today from the garden was a female Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzards, a Red Kite, a pair of Stock Doves passing high NNE, and 2 single Cormorants moving through.
The Red Kite and Buzzard were seen at height from the garden, and despite the distance, the pictures allows you to see the obvious differences between the two species.
In the garden a Collared Dove continues to sit tightly on the nest in my hedge, and Goldfinches were coming and going all day.  Two Siskins were frequently seen, I have seen four together recently indicating local breeding.  And finally, a male Greenfinch was singing and occasionally performed his very welcome song-flight.

Redstarts

In Breckland we are lucky to have the beautiful Redstart as a scarce summer visitor.  This very attractive bird is a common visitor to the upland woodland habitats of western Britain.
On 23rd May I located two singing male Redstarts, both generally difficult to see but occasionally a bird would appear in the very tops of tall Scots Pines.
Despite the range the salient features of this gorgeous bird were seen: White fore-crown, grey head and mantle, a neat black facial patch and chin, orange breast, and reddish/orange tail, and whitish belly.

Redstart 23rd May

Redstart (male) 23rd May

Great Melton, Norfolk, 21st May

Whilst taking a short work break in Great Melton, I became aware of noisy Blackbirds, Jays, and Chaffinches in mature dense woodland, my suspicions were confirmed as to why these birds were upset, a Tawny Owl, a bird which briefly came into view before flying back into thick woodland.

Tawny Owl Great Melton 21st May 

Also present was singing Blackcap and a Mistle Thrush which was collecting food for youngsters. The Mistle Thrush is the largest of British Thrush species appearing greyer than the warm browns of Song Thrush, also, the Mistle Thrush has a very distinctive football-rattle like call.

Mistle Thrush Great Melton 21st May