Nothing Much...

This afternoon's skywatch started slowly. Wispy clouds in a sharp, blue void, bereft of birds it seemed. The biting NE wind, even at lunch time making me regret the shorts decision. Finally something happened, and a distant Red Kite slipped east. Eventually I tallied four of them, all going E or NE. Are they returning from their Cornish holiday? Other birds included a very few Swallows and a distant, racing Hobby clearly on the hunt; it appeared to stoop at something and I lost it. That's my 7th garden Hobby, all in a few days. I find this amazing, but should I? Thinking about it logically, spring migration has been in full flow for a while now, which means thousands and thousands of birds are traversing the land every day. They've got to fly over somewhere, and a few will obviously take a route through (or close to) my garden's airspace. This must happen every year, but with all the extra effort and attention being applied in this strangest of all years, many more than usual are actually being noticed. Which is why I know that 7 Hobbies, loads of Red Kites, a Cuckoo, a Stone-curlew, a Nightjar and a party of Common Scoter are among their number. What next...?

This afternoon's frustration was provided by a warblery thing which zipped past, making me think 'Whitethroat!' before landing in a neighbour's hawthorn. As it tipped forward into the foliage and vanished, I glimpsed an undertail which suggested that white outers were involved. Not. Quite. Enough...

Whitethroat was a feature of this morning's walk. It was so cold first thing that it wouldn't have surprised me to see this bird's breath steaming...

Whitethroat going for it in frigid blue. That background is the sea.

I got one shot of this leggy Hare before it hurried into cover

For me, highlight of the walk was finding a singing Corn Bunting where I've never seen Corn Bunting before. I like Corn Buntings. They strike me as irrepressibly cheerful with their silly, hissy song. It's like they've been a bit short-changed in the looks and brains department, but are blissfully unaware. Bless...

Big brown blob-on-a-stick.

Corn Bunting. Stonking. Three words which can never appear in the same sentence.

I'll close with this photo of a Whimbrel. Actually it's a photo of a field of flowers, and the Whimbrel is a just a tiny decorative detail...

When I put my mind to it and can get in the groove, I love birding in this part of the world. It may not be heaving with rarities, but the rewards are there to be had in many, many other ways...