Saw much less than I heard, but spotted first chiffchaff of the year in trees by
cycle track, then a few buzzards. Thought I heard a skylark not far out from Locharbriggs.
Most productive area was a lovely run through Amisfield Moor, where the meadow pipits have returned and there were also two male wheatear and a number of what on checking were probably female reed buntings.
On the way past Ae saw the first butterflies of the season. The ones I got a view of were peacocks that have presumably over-wintered. At Poldivan, the shrike was not in evidence, so headed up past Mitchellslacks hoping to see predators. But there were just some more pipits, quite a few curlew and some lapwing starting to display.
On the way back, the shrike was back in position. Hung around just to the south of the clearing as a bloke from Cumbria reckoned he had seen a couple of goshawks. I may have heard them, sounded a bit like a pheasant though. Nothing much on Amisfield Moor, but did hear another chiffchaff before the cycle track turnoff.
A notable absence was the swallow - must be a few in the country by now.
No comments:
Post a Comment