Lightning strikes twice!

On April 9th, 3 days after finding a dead female Blackcap, I witnessed a male fly from the silver birch straight into an upstairs window with a thud.  This too never recovered.  We have had Pigeons and Pheasants do this in the past, but never small passerines, so to have two Blackcaps do this in 3 days is very surprising.

Ups and Downs

Today was the hottest day of the year so far with the temperature reaching 22 degrees C in the afternoon.  Not surprising then that the garden was positively awash with butterflies - 7 species were seen, including 4 that were new for the year: Large White, Small White, Holly Blue and Orange Tip.  Brimstone, Comma and Peacock made up the numbers.

A Chiffchaff was seen in the morning and it or another could be heard singing from the adjacent wood.  A male Blackcap was also singing quite vociferously from next door's cherry tree - when I saw a female moving through the same tree, I could see why.

With the warm air and blue skies, raptors were very much in evidence.  Red Kites were well into double figures and Common Buzzards were approaching them.  An example of a typical overhead view today:

A male Sparrowhawk was in full display, his white undertail coverts puffed out looking almost Goshawk-like.  He was obviously paired to a female, but a third bird also appeared in the air simultaneously, though did not cause any friction.  Unfortunately, no migrant raptor or Crane/Stork appeared in the mix!

Later in the afternoon, my daughter found a dead female Blackcap on the back patio that had presumably succumbed after flying into a window.  The yellow pollen stains on the feathers around the base of the bill probably came from cherry blossom.  I wondered whether it was the female I had seen earlier - such a shame.

Bramblings are still regular visitors to the feeders, with at least 2 males and 2 females seen today.  Numbers are obviously dropping away from their peak and I also suspect that many are transient passage birds rather than regular visitors.

Summer's Here!

The recent mild weather with southerly air flows has seen the arrival of summer migrants earlier than I normally expect.  There has been a very early passage of House Martins, with single birds seen on several days since the first on March 26th and 2 together on March 31st.  I suspect that these are passage birds rather than local breeders, but it's difficult to tell whether I am generally just seeing a lingering bird or different birds passing through.  Yesterday, April 3rd, saw my first Swallows moving through.  Firstly a single bird in the morning, then 3 together and a further single in the afternoon.  All 5 birds were travelling either west or north west.  The only other summer migrant seen to date was a single silent Chiffchaff on March 29th moving through the trees.

Ever hopeful of seeing further migrants, I am always scanning the skies just in case.  Just after 3pm yesterday, whilst playing frisbee with the kids in the back garden, I glanced upwards and saw a very high flying raptor going due north.  Raptors flying in this direct manner tend to be interesting migrants rather than the local Red Kites and Buzzards that circle, meander, display, tumble etc.. By the time I'd grabbed my bins and located the bird again, I only had a quick distant glimpse before the trees got in the way, but I noted a long winged raptor with pale undersides and a distinctly bowed wing profile.  All these features are good for Osprey, of which one passed over the garden last August, albeit at a slightly lower altitude, but unfortunately on such a brief view, I cannot clinch the identification, so another one that gets away!