Common Whitethroat In terms of new birds for my UK list this year so far has been a very slow one. My last addition, assuming its finally accepted, was the Cornish Booted Eagle way back in January. Still there’s been plenty of nice local stuff to keep me happy. Hearing the first Common Whitethroat in song announces the much anticipated return on mass of our spring migrants in late April and early May. Its song is perhaps not the sweetest being fast and scratchy with an almost scolding tone but, very kindly, it tends to be sung from a prominent and exposed perch. Rather subjectively, there seem to be more Common Whitethroats in the hedges around our small village than in the last couple of years. Where the hedgerows are uncut the Mayflower on the Blackthorn has been truly stunning this year with the bushes absolutely laden with glowing bunches of dainty white flowers. I say uncut because they tend to flower on l...
Wood Warbler I’m having a really enjoyable spring just concentrating on local birding. I’m not missing twitching at all but that’s not to say I wouldn’t jump in the car at a moment’s notice for a most wanted mega! With a UK bird list now well into the four hundreds opportunities for new additions are becoming few and far between. There have been two quite rare birds that I would have been previously tempted by, a Broad-billed Sandpiper and an Alpine Accentor, but the motivation to twitch birds I’ve seen well before just does not appeal at the mo. Spring is my favourite season and I’m quite sure there is some, possibly relativistic, effect on how long it lasts as Winter always seems to be at least twice as long as spring. I can’t believe we are into May already. I set myself the aim of really getting to grips with the wonderful Wyre Forest this spring. I tend to stick with the familiar and comfortable and walk the same paths whe...