More firsts

First Cuckoo of 2008 from the garden this morning and my first Small Tortoiseshell in Thornton.

Little Owl !!!!!!!!!!

At last my Thornton bogey bird finally unblocked. Two birds today in the usual spot. Thank The Lord.............Plus Dunlin and Common Sandpiper on the dam (Thanks to Dave for getting me on these). First Small White this year in the garden. It's all happening......

Anyone for subbuteo?

Cracking Hobby in the village this morning. Got soaked at lunchtime but the first Chiffchaff on this patch was some reward.

Tales from the Riverbank

An unexpected bonus this afternoon came in the form of a very vocal but very elusive Lesser Whitethroat in the waterside scrub near the Sea Cadets HQ. Only managed a couple of glimpses but a real treat for a bird which has become incredibly difficult to catch up with in recent years. Willow Warblers were plentiful but no Chiffchaffs. Sadly the evidence of the recent oil spillage is still present on the river. Other than that, very little else........

Hobby

First one this year over the Hill Hole Quarry at 6pm......

First Butterfly of 2008

About flaming time I hear you all cry. Female Orange Tip along the Soar banks near Ross Walk at lunchtime.

Everards Tiger

I normally try and stick to the natural world for my blog topics, however, for the first time in ages I nipped out for a pint in the Bricklayers Arms in the village last night (cracking pub, great food and well worth a visit). I thought 4p had been added to a pint in the budget but my fave tipple had leapt from £2.40 to £2.60!!!! Obvously the public and the publican suffer (again). Shame on you Everards.........

The Dam

The Dam at Thornton Reservoir provided two interesting observations on my way to work this morning. A Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming on a telegraph pole and Dave Wright in a suit.......

Trap Result 21/04/08

1 Brindled Beauty
1 Small Quaker
1 Hebrew Character
1 Early Grey

Black Lark

No, we haven't had one of these at Thornton, however, one was found on Sunday at Winterton Dunes NNR in Norfolk. National rarities don't do a lot for me these days but what I find fascinating are the events of Monday. At the time of writing the bird hadn't been refound but there were obviously a number of birders present. Increased observers led to Subalpine Warbler, Wryneck and Hoopoe all in one morning. Chances are they'll find something else before the day is out........

Thornton

Is the place to be at the moment. Today we've had 4 Little Gull (3 Adult 1 1st Winter) 13 Common Tern and 2 Arctic. I didn't see it today but the male Redstart is still there. Dave Wright heard a burst of Lesser Whitethroat as well. There were plenty of Willow/Chiffs on the move as well. Cracking Stuff............

Trap Result 18/04/08

1 Slug !!!!

Redstart

Cracking male on Friday at Thornton together with 4 Yellow Wagtail. Plus Dave Gray as a year tick!!!!!

First Chiffchaff of the year

E4 Car Park of the NEC. Who says trade shows are boring.....

Birds

Two Raven on the way home was a pleasant surprise yesterday. Thornton appears to have had a Wagtail-fest yesterday with 4 Yellow and 2 White. A brief pull in pre work resulted in 1 White but no Yellow. Probably still around but I only had five minutes. Interestingly I had a rather smart female Brambling as well. Two Jays rounded off the journey to work in Ulverscroft.

Lunchtime

Further to my earlier posting the oil is apparent on the entire length of my lunch time route from Thurcaston Road to Ross Walk and back again. Waterfowl are generally less but those that are present don't seem to be showing adverse reactions but even so it is still a bloody scandal and lets hope they bring however it is to book. The mammal list for this patch is minimal (unless you include cats and dogs..) so a large and very fat Brown Rat was a treat today. Lets hope the booms etc.. clear up this oil soon.

Oil Pollution

No doubt some of you will have read or seen on the local news that the River Soar near to my workplace has been contaminated with heating oil. The 'slicks' are quite visible and obviously couldn't have happened at a worse time of year. There's been at least one dead bird so far, a Moorhen, but plenty more are affected. Read the BBC article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/7348824.stm

Green Woodpecker

This was a surprise at lunchtime. I didn't see it but heard it several times. It appeared to be feeding somewhere on the playing fields at the back of the old John Ellis School complex. I assume that it's one of the resident Abbey Park birds on its lunch break..... Willow Warbler was the only other bird of note.

More migrants

Have seen a few House Martins around the village over the last day or so. We had three pairs under the eaves our cottage and next door last year so I'm hopeful that we'll get them back again.

Was going to attempt the Warren Hills Ring Ouzel this morning (thanks to Dave Gray and John Hague for direections) but didn't happen. It's becoming increasingly difficult to plan anything with two children........

Lunchtime wanderings

Another migrant (arguably) this afternoon was a singing Blackcap along the river in Belgrave. Only other highlight was a Treecreeper in the park.

Spring has sprung

At last.....I bumped into Andy Smith last night who was giving me a bit of stick of my lack of birding at present. That spurred me on and a quick check of the dam at Thornton before work gave me 3 Swallow and probably 30+ Sand Martin. Add to this a Willow Warbler at Ulverscroft and it appears that I'm off the mark......

Lunchtime Ladybirds

Still nothing around Belgrave to indicate spring, except the south facing wall of St Peters churchyard on Vicarage Lane is literally packed with Coccinellidae larval cases (or Ladybirds to the rest of us). I'm assuming that they are all Coccinella septempunctata, Seven Spot Ladybird, but I'll keep an eye on them and let you know.

Lots of commoner migrants about in the county presently including quite a few in Thornton. I haven't had five minutes over the last couple of weeks but I'm hoping to catch up with a few before work tomorrow.

Moths

I was more than a little disappointed when I inspected the trap this morning. After a reasonably mild and damp night there wasn't a single moth....However, the wall under the kitchen window had the three moths listed below including the long overdue, but nevertheless new, Dotted Border. Still no spring migrants for me as yet but did see a Red Legged Partridge this morning in the middle of a residential road in Thurcaston......

Trap Result 02/04/08

1 Oak Beauty
1 Early Thorn
1 Dotted Border (new to garden)

Trap Result 31/03/08

Diurnea fagella (new to garden)
Common Quaker
Hebrew Character