Local Spring update

Its been hard going on the patch. A few regular bits and pieces - GreyWagtail, Little Owl, Shoveler, Little Egret, and a trickle of summer visitors with 3 Lesser Whitethroat of particular note. But there has nevertheless been a new bird for the patch - a pair of Mandarin have been seen a couple of times. They have been on the horse field and the male looks slightly overdressed as it waddles round in its finery.

Elsewhere folks have been seeing Ring Ouzels so I went back today to Tharbies, our local patch of high ground, to see if I could find one. It is intensively farmed so lacked the variety of my patch round the Stort. There was no ouzel, but 2 Wheatear in a ploughed field were nice compensation, and 3 Lapwing, 2 Grey Partridge, a few Yellowhammer, Linnets, and Skylarks with single Swallow, male Kestrel, and a distant displaying Buzzard made it worthwhile. A Tawny Mining Bee on the path was my first for the year.