UKH

Summer has arrived!  List of chiffchaffs, bees galore, speckled wood butterfly, plenty roe deer, some very close. Sparrowhawk flew straight over my head. Bluebells appearing. Lots of the usual woodland birds. Sky larks galore and good views of a pheasant. Photos to follow. And I might Bob out to photo the house martin as it was oddly early. 

The last week or so we've had a lively Thrush shouting out his call so vigorously before sunrise I think I'll call him Bruce, "Born to Sing".

I’ve noticed more song thrush this year. Lovely song. 

Bluebells and pheasant

Pheasant and grey heron

Chiffchaffs

Roe deer

You are Mick Taylor and I claim my £25 (rise due to inflation)

Well spotted!  Cheques in the post.

Got up well early this morning to try and see a barn owl.  But didn’t. But I did see lots of roe deer, a red legged partridge, gazillions of chiffchaff (some displaying) peacock butterfly. Buzzard and lots of the usuals. Oh, curlew flying over and calling - don’t see many. I think I heard a burst of song from a blackcap but couldn’t be sure. Should have a few good photos. 

There was a Red Kite over Windgather yesterday.

Thrush battling a worm.

Red legged partridge

Marsh marigolds

nice one.  I've managed to spot where in the large monkeypuzzle our resident sits.  Bruce is incredibly loud and energetic - my wife says "born to shout".

At last all of the blackbirds in the village have decided to converse musically - ours has developed a trick of singing loudly from cover as well in the open - just wondering if he is annexing some new territory

Our blackbird is called scruffy. Found out that next door neighbour calls him tufts. His feathers are all over the place. Reckon lots of tussles.  He’s very protective over everything, hard as nails and doesn’t care about his appearance. So I reckon they are marking their territories. 

Chiffchaff ... thank you for the picture, now I know what I saw this afternoon!!!

Except that Willow Warblers are essentially identical to look at - don't know if they've returned yet.

Only reliable way to tell them apart is song, one goes chiff-chaff, the other has a descending trill. Guess which is which 😁

Ah, right, thanks. It vanished the moment I'd seen it and didn't stay around to sing, sadly.

Lots of warblers are notoriously difficult to tell apart unless you have a really good view of them, even then some don't become easier - especially rarities.

Most of them can be reliably identified by song/calls followed up by visual. Many years ago when I was a teenager and properly into birdwatching I used to have some (but not much) proficiency at this - now - none, except for chiff-chaff/willow-warbler - but that's only because it's the easy one 😁

Of course unless you're into ticking lists, it doesn't really matter, but it is somehow strangely satisfying being able to identify different birds.

Your expertise is needed on the canal dangle thread😊.