Flixton

Whitethroat

Another, slightly warmer, sunny day. The song thrush was either early or elsewhere today, either way I missed it. The blackcap didn't start singing until lunchtime, too, perhaps they'd both exhausted themselves yesterday. 

The partially leucistic woodpigeon's still around, looking like an harlequin on the school playing field. It looks even more peculiar when it flies overhead.

• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 12
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 3
• Wren 1

Whitethroat

I bobbed over to Flixton for a short afternoon stroll. There were plenty of small birds about, mostly blue tits, great tits and robins. As I started on the path onto Fly Ash Hill I bumped into the first of five common whitethroats on the patch. There were three or four blackcaps about. I'm revising garden warbler songs and calls, these give me trouble every year. Blackcap's easy because they arrive early but once the garden warblers arrive it feels like there's almost unlimited scope for confusion. Whitethroat's easier, they always sound like they're gearing up for a big song then give up before they really get into it.

Fly Ash Hill

I had a chat with a chap on the path to Jack Lane. It turns out he's been doing the BTO willow tit survey for the Flixton area. He reckons there's three territories in the area, which is pretty good going, nearly 1% of the population for the whole of England. I've bumped into two pairs round here, but had had no luck today. He confirmed I was looking in the right places (and apologised because there was a chance they were back on the feeders in his garden, he'd been watching them while he had his breakfast this morning). I finally bumped into one on the railway embankment by Jack Lane, its call mostly drowned out by singing blackbirds and robins.

Jack Lane

It was too early for reed warblers on Jack Lane, but if you don't look you don't find.