Dapper

Normally up with the larks, I was still festering in bed at 10:30am this morning suffering from a 'bad pint' I must have consumed the previous night in Warrington. Fortified by a spanish omelette and a good dose of caffiene I set out for a walk around a former regular haunt - Hockenhall Platts on the River Gowges.

From the depths of the poplar plantation three Chiffchaffs were singing rather half-heartedly, joined by two more enthusiastic sedge warblers from the scrub area behind.

The first birds I encountered in the pastures were three stunning male Greenland Wheatears perched on fenceposts. All were looking resplendent despite being in the middle of a punishing migration; surely there a few birds more handsome.

Across the river, perched atop of a tree, were two rather despondent looking Kestrels gradually becoming drenched in the increasingly heavy rain.

The remainder of the walk to Cotton Edmunds was pretty quiet aside from a handful of singing Common Whitethroat. Sadly, a pair of Curlew that had been resident in the area of the past month seem to have moved to pastures new. Given the availability of suitable habitat I was hoping they would stay around and attempt to breed.

Plenty of rape being grown in this area at the moment which may have contributed to my inability to locate a singing Yellowhammer, "A little bit of bread and cheese, a little bit of bread and cheese."

What a good idea, and perhaps a pickled onion too. Time for lunch.

Other birds of note: two Stonechat.

Until later.