20th May 2020
I found this cracking male Red-backed Shrike at the east end of the airfield this afternoon
Yesterday morning I was awoken by the noisy Jackdaw outside my window and this morning he was vocal again. He continued for the next thirty minutes as like he was singing or trying to anyway. I get woken up by a Jackdaw while Martin at Holy Vale, also this morning, listens to the sound of 2 Golden Oriole singing from outside his house! So after doin the Garrison and not a sniff of an oriole, just before work, I thought I would cycle to the golf course. Twenty minutes later, I came off the course with 2 Wheatear and flight views of a female ‘type’ Golden Oriole. Ideal!
I hope a Golden Oriole wakes me up tomorrow morning instead of this Jackdaw
Feeding with the Jackdaw were good numbers of gulls including this Lesser Black-backed Gull
Expect more photos of Starlings, particular the pale individual, as like the Jackdaw, they spend all there time hanging out in front of the window and you can’t help but point your camera at them.
This was the only bird of note that I saw on the Garrison, Chiffchaff If only this interesting looking individual sang
There were 2 Greenland Wheatear at the golf course
It wasn’t until 16.30 that I got back in field and half an hour later I had stumbled upon a male Red-backed Shrike on posts at the east end of the runway. It was still present when Robin and Martin had arrived. With the wind from the SSE, it felt like there had to be more scarcities around from the south. However, after searching for the next hour all I could muster were a single Hobby, 30+House Martin and at Maypole, a single Turtle Dove. It was while at Trenoweth that I got a call from Robin telling me that he had brief views of a lark on the airfield. It had to be a Short-toed Lark that had just arrived I told him. I called Higgo, as I knew he was goin up to twitch the shrike, to let him know about the lark. By the time I had arrived at the airfield, the lark had been sorted and it was a Short-toed Lark. A male Redstart had also turned up near to the shrike but there was no sign of it while I was there.
I’ve found a few spring females and autumn juvenile Red-backed Shrike in the past, so it was pleasing to at last turn up this male
This Turtle Dove at Maypole, just kept coming closer and closer towards me as I hid behind a stone pillar
A few Linnet were in the same field as the dove
This Hobby also flew by while observing the dove
If only this Short-toed Lark on the airfield showed like the dove. As it had only just arrived it proved very mobile and never settled down.
When I returned home, look who was waiting for me just outside my window. This Jackdaw is only the second record so far this year.
SCILLYSPIDER 2 