Im trying not to be negative....

...about this bloody weather......grrrrr!!!  Thankfully its now SW, anything but those cold cold NE the last couple of weeks....but for goodness sake, will this wind ever disappear...it is soooooo tedious....and this morning it was raining...again.....and im supposed to be going for Nightjar tonight!

0410 - 0735 SW F2 rain to start, sunshine later with zero cloud

I almost went back to bed....as it is I had to go back home to get my waterproof....I decided to be brave....though I questioned this again as I looked North across the orchard from the railway bridge in Five Oak Green to see murk murk and more murk as it began to rain again....I plodded on, safe in the knowledge that I needed to be back home by 0800 anyway....
Blackbirds seemed to be the only interested parties in the village but a lone Robin joined in, possibly because he thought he should rather than wanting too me thinks...
Amazingly the third bird on the list was Yellowhammer in the orchard (I should have counted these today as they seemed to be everywhere), did anything else want to bother?...a Chaffinch joined in and a lone Skylark started, followed by another, on my return there were 4 or 5 singing, so im hoping that some chick production will be successful despite the farmers continuous attempts to thwart them.  Things seemed to be brightening up in the song world anyway.
A Wren piped up at the gravel pits with a Whitethroat and a Crow.  On the pits I could see Great Crested Grebe and a Coot with a chick...at last....little birds....Tufted Duck and Mute Swan perused and a Mallard popped along with 8 reasonable sized juveniles....another 4 later....
Reed Buntings were still keen and a Song Thrush joined in when I reached the North side of the pits.  Chiffchaff had been chiffing and Woodpigeon...er...wooded.  A Pheasant (im really struggling about this one, do I include it, im thinking about dropping it from my inclusion list, even more so now that Natural England have issued licences to kill native Buzzards in favour of these foreigners...hmmmm...Natural England not so Natural then...what is this government up to?) clucked and the first of several Green Woodpecker yaffled.  A Grey Wagtail flew from the North shore.  Reed and Sedge Warbler were ever present.
2 Lesser Black Back Gull were sitting on a gravel bar in one of the pits, now the water level has dropped, along with a Great Black Back Gull and a Herring Gull.  A Grey Heron swooped by.
Blackcap finally joined in and a Magpie made a distant appearance.  The young Starlings still seem to be hanging around the Oak tree though I found some more later.
Star birds.............2 Peregrine Falcons appeared chasing pigeons and calling to each other.  Where have they come from, I know I havent been on site for 10 days or so...??
A few Swifts flew by, 25 were over the pools later.  Dunnock sang brightly in the rainy showery yuck.  The Turtle Doves are still cooing and at last I managed a glimpse of one.  A Nightingale was still singing but it was definately just the one.  I did have the luxury of it singing just a few feet from me after I managed to creep up on it though most of the credit probably goes to the howling wind covering any noise I made.
The Linnets were at the quarry as usual with loads of Jackdaws and Feral Pigeons.  A Great Tit sang briefly and 3 Herring Gull flew by.  Blue Tit made a brief appearance.
Housemartin appeared with the Swifts.
On the return a Mistle Thrush was a nice find and then the usual last minute birds...House Sparrow and Goldfinch.

Every cloud has a silver lining....heres this mornings...not that it lasted too long before more cloud moved on in to cheer the day along....!!

Warbler count:

Whitethroat  11

Lesser Whitethroat  0

Nightingale  1

Blackcap  3

Chiffchaff  4

Willow Warbler  0

Garden Warbler  0