Corn bunting

 One advantage of social media is the information that is available, so using a recent tweet I set off in the hope of getting tick number 183 for the year, a corn bunting. I parked on the grass verge and walk down the lane. I soon came across large potholes so I was glad that I had not attempted to drive down.

Either side of the lane are fields and few trees or hedges, so you have a good view of the terrain. In several fields there are large, round bales of hay and I could hear bird song coming from one of these fields. It was very windy, so it was difficult to pinpoint the source of the song. I slowly walked along and saw one or two birds flying, they were finding it hard going against the wind. This gave me a chance to look at them through my binoculars and I could see that they were skylarks. Several more skylarks joined them and as they flew further into the field a large flock of linnets took to the air. 

I walked further along the lane and came to another field with bales of hay, Again the bird sing and flying skylarks, except this time I could see lumps on top of the bales. Looking at these lumps I saw the rope that was used to hold the bale together. However some of the lumps looked a bit different and when I looked through my binoculars I could see a corn bunting. Time to get out of the wind and walk back to the car.

I then drove to Bank Island.

The sunshine would have helped when I was looking for the corn buntings. I had just sat down in the hide and noted that there were lapwings, golden plover and 3 little egrets, when everything took to the air.

I looked to see what had disturbed the birds and saw a marsh harrier, then two marsh harriers. One had red wing tags, which I think indicated that the bird came from Norfolk, 

not brilliant pictures due to the distance. They flew out of sight and the lapwings returned, only to take to the air soon afterwards. I assumed that the harriers had returned, but no it was a red kite.

As I watched the kite slowly glide around I saw a buzzard and a kestrel. Eventually the lapwings returned but not the golden plover or egrets. Their place was taken by a lot of black headed gulls. 4 snipe were feeding in the mud in front of the hide, but too far away for a photo.

Then an ex work colleague turned up. I had taken Andy on his first birdwatching trip several decades ago! A black balloon floated across the field towards the water and everything flew away including the harriers.

It was then time for me to leave to go for my booster jab.

17 more birds including kingfisher and green woodpecker. However I only have half days available for the next week or two and the clocks change on Saturday, so it will become more challenging to get to 200 birds for the year.