Local patch

Whitethtoat

I'd convinced myself it was months since it last rained, it was actually a couple of weeks though the state of parts of the garden excuse my error. It was a yet cooler, cloudier day and the Nor'east wind had a spiteful edge to it. I shelved the, admittedly limited, plans for the day as the Achilles tendon was very unhappy, not as a result of yesterday's walk but the inevitable consequences of having to do early morning pirouettes around the cat on the cold kitchen lino as she demanded breakfast. I'd been congratulating myself on its getting better last week, I'll have to walk it back into shape this week.

Not wanting to be entirely idle I toddled over to have a nosy round the local patch. It was considerably quieter than the meadows were yesterday but that was warmer, sunnier and about nine times bigger and with a hawthorn bush to people ratio approaching two hundred to one. Still, it was good to add a couple of whitethroats to this year's tally, I was really concerned that the efforts at tidying up the "waste" ground would put them off. A second chaffinch singing alongside the regular one was a welcome surprise. I'm not convinced I welcome the parakeets settling in though I'm sure they'll delight the visiting public.

• Blackbird 12, 5 singing 
• Blackcap 2 singing
• Carrion crow 3
• Chaffinch 2 singing 
• Chiffchaff 2 singing 
• Dunnock 2, 1 singing 
• Goldfinch 10, 5 singing 
• Great tit 3, 1 singing
• Greenfinch 2, 1 singing
• Herring gull 2
• Lesser black-back 2
• Magpie 6
• Mistle thrush 1
• Ring-necked parakeet 2
• Robin 5, 3 singing
• Starling 3
• Whitethroat 2 singing 
• Woodpigeon 9
• Wren 3 singing