Never seen that before !

Friday 12th May 2017

Not the sort of thing you expect in Warwickshire. I'm sure it does happen, particularly on breeding colonies on the coast but I cant recall seeing Common terns 'bombing' a couple of Hobbies. Not just dropping their droppings but actually aiming them. No hits were seen but plenty of near misses. The birds in question were at Mill pool, Alvecote.

The Target, Hobby, Alvecote

Pair of Hobbies

Shelduck with well disciplined brood

Little Gull, Middleton lakes RSPB

So far, May has been largely unspectacular for me, missing most of the wader species passing through, but with all the regular breeding Warblers showing well, I can't complain. Also a good spring for Raptors with Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Osprey and Hobby all seen at localish sites.

Migration report - April

Wednesday 3rd May 2017

Been rather too busy trying to catch up with migrants moving through or arriving at their local destinations to keep up with daily accounts -excuses, excuses. I've focussed on localish  sites in the main with mixed success. A summary so far, by no means a complete record just the birds I've managed to see:
Shustoke: Arctic, Black terns,Swift.
Alvecote (Warks) - Dunlin, Blackwits, Garganey, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Little Gull1w, Whinchat .
 Maxstoke -  Redstart.
Mancetter,- Wheatear, Osprey,
 Seeswood -Ring Ouzel, Kingsbury (Cliff pool) -  Little Gull1w, Black Tern.
Brandon - Red Kite, Cuckoo,
Caldecote - Wheatear.
Thanks to those 'finders' who passed on info.

Images of some of the April  birds not featured in the Blog previously:

Eygptian Geese, near Brandon

Black tailed Godwit, Alvecote pools

Whinchat, Alvecote

Wheatear, Mancetter

Black tern, Shustoke Res.