Black-tailed godwits, Leighton Moss

Saturday, 21 June 2025

Home thoughts

Juvenile dunnock

It had been a very warm and heavy night. The blackbird and the robin were singing at four, joined not long after by one of the woodpigeons. The first of the lesser black-backs flew over from their roost about the same time. I finally fell asleep some time after twenty to five and was woken up at five on the dot by a cat demanding breakfast. This was not met with congenial warmth and I made her wait a while for it. At eight I let her out for her iron cat physical exercise regimen which these days in her dotage consists of sleeping in flowerpots and sitting on the dustbin. I sat down and slept through past noon which put the mockers on the day's plans. Just as well, really, the weather was energy-sapping and I would have struggled. A quick nip round to my dad's to sort something out for him felt like a route march through hill country.

The wren had started singing just before eight. I didn't hear it all afternoon, which isn't unusual this time of year. I did hear the spadgers rummaging about in the roses and the parakeet which I fear is starting to become a fixture though it doesn't yet come to the feeders. The goldfinches and great tits slip in quietly and it's more luck than judgement has me spotting them. A juvenile robin struck defiant poses on the arching stems of the rambling rose.

By the evening I was getting stir crazy (me choosing not to go out and my not being able to go out are two different kettles). It was a lot cooler and a nice breeze had picked up so I went for a walk in the dusk and had a quick nosy in the park along the way. I left the bins and camera at home but took the bat detector, just in case. Somebody put a lot of effort into putting bat boxes up in the trees the Winter before last, I wondered if any were in use, and if so whether I could find any of the occupants. (It's still difficult writing things like "I took the bat detector" without hearing Adam West say it in my head.)

Lostock Park 

A robin was singing behind the school sports hall as I walked down the road. Another robin was singing in the bushes by the entrance to the park. I'm still a learner with the detector, I suspect I need to learn a lot more patience with the twiddling of the dials, I'm not trying to find Radio Luxembourg. Rather despite myself I caught the sound of a bat patrolling the bushes around the bowling green. And even more despite myself I managed to identify it as a soprano pipistrelle, the rapid-fire clicking being picked up around the 55MHz mark. I've downloaded the list of frequencies (pdf file) to my 'phone so I'm not messing about again next time because I've left my notebook at home.

For all it was just a walk round the block it felt good to get a bit of fresh air. Tomorrow's promising to be a bit more bearable though with a risk of thundery showers, we'll see how it goes.

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