spring warblers

 Warblers are filtering in with decent arrivals of Sedge and Reed Warblers this week with a few Grasshopper warblers while the Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs are getting down to nest building and Cetti's go from strength to strength ; Willow Warblers remain thinly spread and the disastrous lack of Swallows and House Martins appears to be spread throughout the UK 

Chiffchaffs, Blackcap and the continuing Ring-necked Duck

 The duck gets no closer or easier to photograph so a couple more record shots; Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs are two species certainly on the up locally with a total of 74 singing Chiffchaffs counted on my local pits walks on March 31st and up to 50 Blackcaps occupying breeding territories in recent years - a far cry from the one or two pairs that bred in the 1970's. 

Blackcap

clearly another arrival of Blackcaps over the weekend with singing males setting up territories amongst the birds that came in earlier in April

local catch up

Blackcaps seem to be taking over the pits this year -- failed to count them all today but must have been 50+ males -- Sparrowhawk eyeing up our garden feeders; local and Humber Marsh Harriers, Chiffchaff, Little Egret, Shoveler, Bearded Tit and Muntjac

male Blackcap still in the garden

still using the garden and taking to the feeders which he defends against House Sparrows and Starlings -  was constantly warbling in sub-song on Thursday 

Boxing day in the garden

not had many Blackcaps in the garden in winter ever, possibly just 3-4 so a bonus bird

male Sparrowhawk and male Blackcap

raptors clearly make better photos -- but I had less than 10 photos of Blackcaps in my vaults so set myself the task to take a few more this spring -- not the easiest of birds to get nice photos of -- I found the sunbathing Sparv while out without my camera and cursed-- walked 800m back to the car got the camera and went back never expecting it to still be there but it was and it let me take some shots before it just dropped into the adjacent hawthorn thicket