It’s been another excellent few days out on patch this week with Spring migrants continuing to build in number. An influx of Willow Warblers in particular from Tuesday onwards has meant that we now only need open a window to hear their distinctive calls with the bushes up on Gopa Read more…
Gorgeous weather this week has meant plenty of opportunity for after work outings and in my continuing search for spring migrants I’ve spent them all out on patch. Tuesday evening saw us make a relatively brief outing up to Bryn-bach-Common where at least two Stonechats were perched around the pylons Read more…
Hard as it is to believe but March is already a fast fading memory and with it another month of the Patchwork Challenge has been and gone. I had hoped to have seen my first spring migrants by now but other than a couple of Chiffchaffs which have been singing Read more…
Ambling up to Bryn-bach-Common last Friday evening I couldn’t help but notice a distinctive bird song filling the air. At first the sound was familiar yet hard to place, delightfully varied with a volume to match. Then it slowly dawned on me that what I was listening to was in Read more…
Climbing Gopa Hill on Saturday morning you couldn’t help but notice the rapid advance of spring compared to even a couple of weeks ago. Daffodils, Snowdrops and even a few Crocuses are now all in flower, our garden Robin is once again tolerating the presence of another and best of Read more…
With my January Patchwork Challenge scores submitted (and very healthy they looked too) it was straight back out on the first of this month to try and nudge that tally along a little further. Almost straight away we hit pay-dirt with a male Sparrowhawk crossing the fields beneath Gopa Hill. Read more…
Despite a forecast of doom and gloom Saturday dawned clear, sunny and, if not warm, then certainly above the freezing conditions I’d been expecting. To top it all the strong winds of recent days had been banished to leave an unexpectedly peaceful and tranquil landscape. With a light mist still Read more…
It’s hard to believe but yesterday was my last opportunity of 2014 to get out onto the patch in an attempt to push my current Patchwork Challenge score a little higher. Despite a less than attentive year I had still somehow managed to draw level with my previous comparative species Read more…
We’ve been treated to something of a spectacle this morning with at least eighteen Ravens circling over our back garden and neighbouring countryside. I’ve never seen so many here before with our resident pair usually only being accompanied on rare occasions. This therefore was highly unusual and they stayed around Read more…
My local patch may not be able to offer any Golden Eagles (more’s the pity) but that’s not to say there hasn’t been plenty of interest since our return from Mull. We’ve had two Red Kites overhead, Long-tailed Tits and Goldfinches in the garden plus a rather extraordinary collection of Read more…