Staying local

1st July 2012
A pinch and a punch on the first of the month to you all. Spent yesterday morning walking local sites. Caldecote Hall area produced a single Yellow wagtail, a good number of Skylarks, 3 Linnets, a couple of Reed Buntings, 2 Oystercatcher flying over and an Emperor Dragonfly.
The fields adjacent to the Coventry canal between the Anchor pub and Atherstone produced very little of interest. Sad to see a good winter site for Tree sparrow along the canal near Mansetter destroyed with hedges replaced by ornamental gardens with none idigenous plants. Thats progress for you.
On a more positive note Steve Haynes has set up a Twitter site for Bird sightings in North Warwickshire called Warks bird obs. The idea is to encourage the reporting of local sightings of birds on the move through the area. This may in turn encourage birders  to do more 'patch' watching and find more birds away from the well watched 'hot spots'. Its worth a try anyway.