0345

Yes....0345 exists....bleary eyed somewhat....but it exists....!

0345 - 0635 Foggy, clearing to misty, dull, dark (obviously) becoming brighter (more obviously)

So...here it is....a proper Nightingale survey....a proper time for the little birdies to be singing on their own before anything else joins in.....out the car....and....Cuckoo...!  Cuckoo....the first bird is Cuckoo....Tawny Owl....eh....Tawny Owl....never had one of them around here before even at this time of day....

Hang on....have I been here this time of day before...?  Er....probably yes...or very close to it...and last spring ish I would guess....no complaints, its my first Tawny Owl of the year anyway....so a good start...

Nightingale comes in third on the noise front....worth the wait, not that I waited too long, possibly a minute or less....

DH was already booting up when I got there...very impressive....I thought I was going to be waiting around for a while....so that showed me....

Having suspected 13 Nightingale on site for a couple of weeks todays song proved thus....13....fabulous....though I do have one place to try for another but I think that could be the one that has now moved way out west.

Its not easy being all over the site at once....with them spread out from just about as far east as I go to just about as far west that I go....but today I made it round hearing all of them.  At one point I left DH to clock up a few minutes of listening to one in particular whilst I rounded up a few more through the undergrowth that is now in your face.

Managed to pick up the 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats (hard to find on site now, don't think theres 5 any more) and 2 Garden Warblers.  Plenty of Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs.

Initially we found 2 Mandarin Ducks on island pit in the gloom, male and female....later we found 3 males on the puddles area with some Mallards.  Plenty of male Mallards around, with a group of 11 on island pit.

Heres the list in order of appearance:

Cuckoo, Tawny Owl, Nightingale, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Crow, Woodpigeon, Wren, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Skylark, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Great Tit, Jackdaw, Mallard, Mandarin Duck, Garden Warbler, Coot, Sedge Warbler, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Blue Tit, Moorhen, Bullfinch, Long Tail Tit, Goldcrest, Linnet, Starling, Collared Dove, Magpie