Swallows and Amazons

Orange-winged Amazon, Houghton Green Flash

Pied Flycatcher, Pennington Flash

Difficult to lay a glove on this bird with the digiscoping kit so here are a couple of shots from the maestro - John Tymon

Very dodgy digiscoped shots of a very odd looking Yellow Wagtail in fading light. Taken at HGF

White Wagtail, Waterworks Lane, Winwick

xxxx

Wednesday I got a bit of a surprise at HGF - no fewer than TEN Common Sandpipers there. Amazing! Approximately 200 Sand Martins were dancing over the water - no Swallows however. When I came back in the evening the Martins had passed through. Six Little Ringed Plovers had joined the sandpipers though and on the lawn in the south field, just as the sun was setting, I found two Yellow Wagtails. One was an adult male - the other was a very grey individual which I first thought might be a Citrine Wag. Closer views put paid to that theory, however it still has me stumped! I asked both John Tymon and Ian McKerchar for their opinions. Ian's thinking is that this is a young bird which, for some odd reason, still hasn't moulted out of juvenile plumage!

xxx

I also checked the ploughed field in Waterworks Lane in the evening and found 6 Wheatears and 9 White Wagtails - nice one! In the garden this evening a Willow Warbler was feeding in the Silver Birch outside the conservatory - we always seem to get an odd one visiting in early Spring. Two visits to PF finally resulted in good views of the first summer Pied Flycatcher. John Tymon and I finally caught up with it on th track past New Hide - in retrospect we were the last people to see it. Superb bird for this place.

xxxx

Thursday we were back up to four Black-necked Grebes at HGF with 9 Common Sandpipers still present and 3 Little Ringed Plovers in the evening. I had a trawl around Rixton at lunch - just 5 Wheatears today and little else except for the Crow flock - around 185 of these birds were feeding in a field. A Sparrowhawk spiralled over Moat Lane pool and 2 Whitethroats were showy. Six Grey Partridges and eight Stock Doves in Waterworks Lane this evening.

xxxx

Friday and an evening trip to HGF produced 4 Common Sandpipers, 3 Little Ringed Plovers and a Wheatear. Still 4 BNG's and not much else. As I walked back to the car I heard a bird calling that had me completely stumped. I saw a Kestrel leave a tree opposite Midhops with a similar sized bird in the next tree. I though this would probably be a second Kestrel, however when I got the scope out I realised it was a parrot. I later identified it as an Orange-winged Amazon - a slightly bizarre record for HGF!

XXX

Saturday morning early and at HGF just 1 Common Sandpiper left. The BNG's were back down to a pair and not much else about. I did pick up a couple of Swallows around Midhops (the first birds back on territory) and a Swift passed through. I then headed off to Farndon to look for the Dotterel reported there. Unfortuantely the said bird was long gone by the time I arrived, however a pair of Lesser Whitethroats showed very well along with several other warbler species.

xxxx

In the garden today, as per usual, a couple of Reed Buntings and 4 Tree Sparrows. The male Sparrowhawk arrived late on. An evening walk along Waterworks Lane produced 5 pairs of Grey Partridges and 3 Yellowhammers. I then noticed some birds perched in the trees at the entrance to the farm track. At least two species - when I got close I realised they were Corn Buntings and 4 Yellow Wagtails. The Yellow Wags flew into the cattle field to feed and soon vamooshed. The CB's flew into the ploughed field to feed - I eventually counted 11 birds. A Swallow was also back on territory here.