Local patch

Whitethroat, Barton Clough

I had a teatime stroll around the local patch, in truth because I was more awake at dawn than I was at lunchtime. It was pretty quiet in the park on the way in, possibly because it was more full of people than I've seen it this year. There was only me on the waste ground, well me and a bunch of singing warblers.

Barton Clough
(The deliberate use of the wide angle lens to mislead!)

Going back through the park on my way home a small family of blue tits, including four youngsters, flitted between one of the rowans and a maple. A couple of swifts over the park and three more overhead as I walked past the station made me feel slightly better about them.

• Blackbird 11, 5 singing
• Blackcap 4, 3 singing
• Blue Tit 8, 4 youngsters
• Chiffchaff 2 singing
• Dunnock 4 singing
• Feral Pigeon 13
• Goldfinch 3, 1 singing
• Greenfinch 1 singing
• House Sparrow 7
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 6 overhead
• Magpie 9
• Robin 7, 4 singing
• Song Thrush 1 singing
• Starling 1
• Swift 2
• Whitethroat 3 singing
• Woodpigeon 13
• Wren 8 singing