My wife, Son and I were up at Yelverton on Dartmoor yesterday evening and saw our first Swallows of the year. There were two of them flying around searching for insects to eat for their evening meal. They were swooping low everywhere and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Swallow – Image Copyright RSPB
We thought it was quite early to see Swallows but after looking at the RSPB website, it is known for them to be around from March onwards. This was a little surprising as I don’t remember seeing them so early in the year before. Perhaps it was the milder last few weeks that brought them back to the Country. In any case, it was great to see them and is a sign that Summer is now on its way!
Whilst we were enjoying the hot Spring weather by having a BBQ, I heard the distinctive call of a Buzzard in the local area. My wife and I looked up into the clear blue Sky and, to our surprise, saw 7 buzzards circling overhead. We live next to a small woodland area and open farmland fields, which was where the buzzards looked to have been circling. We had never seen so many together in such close proximity to each other and managed to get our binoculars in time to have a good look.
Does anyone know if it is a common thing having so many buzzards hunting so close together?
I recently spent a weekend in Weymouth, Dorset and was surprised to hear the dawn chorus start before dawn!
I was there for 2 nights and the earliest I heard birds singing was at 1:40am in the morning. I thought that this was a little strange as it was obviously still pitch black and nowhere near dawn. I believe it was a Blackbird that kicked the singing off at this time of the night.
As it was such a lovely day with a perfectly clear sky, I went out with my wife and son for a walk in a nearby field and woods. We spotted loads of birds with them all being Wood Pigeons and Rooks. There seemed to be a never ending amount of Rooks perched in trees and flying overhead. Is it the same throughout the country at the moment or just in Plymouth? Any comments would be much appreciated!
Rook
Whilst looking through the binoculars at the Rooks, I did see some sort of bird of prey swoop by overhead, but was unable to determine what it was unfortunately. My feelings are it was a Buzzard but I can’t be 100% sure as it whizzed by so quickly.
Image Copyright RSPB
On our way back through the woods, we spotted several small birds in the trees. They seemed to be having great fun flying from branch to branch and I managed to view a couple of them through the binoculars. It was very difficult as they weren’t staying still for very long at all. At first they looked like Great Tit’s but they didn’t have the correct colourings. I hadn’t brought my bird book with me so had to wait until we got home to find out exactly what they were. It turns out that I was pretty close with my initial guess. The two that I saw were actually Marsh Tits and looked very healthy! I would have thought the five or so other birds that were flying around with them were Marsh Tits as well, but I wasn’t able to view them via the binoculars so I can’t be 100% sure.
Marsh Tit
All in all, it was a good hour or so spent birding even though there were only three types of birds fully identified.
