Patch update - frozen migration

Brrr - an extra layer today. I'm told that local beekeepers are feeding their bees on syrup to stop them consuming the honey as they have stopped going out. Just one butterfly today, in contrast to a couple of weeks ago when they were seemingly ever-present. Showery and windy kept many birds well hidden, and for the end of April there are still some noticeable absences - Garden Warbler, Cuckoo, for instance.

The sky was the highlight on today's walk round the patch. Some real drama as the showers headed past, massive grey clouds and sun shining in the gaps

Warbler numbers are beginning to build up. They have been variable recently with some Chiff passage along the river recently. Today a Willow Warbler singing from the usual location, which is somewhere in the impenetrable centre of the overgrown field, and 3 singing Chiffchaffs. Lesser Whitethroats are almost the commonest warbler with 5 singing recently. Today a Cetti's Warbler from below Feakes Lock, a Sedge Warbler singing at the pond, and 3 Whitethroats.

Lesser Whitethroat from a couple of days ago. A terrible photo, but shows they don't always sit in the middle of dense bushes.

8 Swallows over the pond were joined by 2 House Martins which became the 77th species on the patch this year. 

Finally the Little Owl was found again. Everyone else gets a Little Owl sat out on a stump or the corner of a building, so why do I get one that sits in the middle of a bush? And hides behind a lichen-covered twig to boot.