A few seconds walk from my back door and I am on the most wonderful back lane a bird watcher could wish for. It goes steeply up through woodland but then levels out on open countryside bordered by hawthorn and gorse hedges. The other morning it was alive with birdsong from both native and migrant species.
This pair of stonechats were clacking like stones banging together. They both had caterpillars in their beaks caterpillars and I guessed they must have a nest of hungry chicks waiting to be fed in their bush.They were waiting for me to move on before delivering breakfast so I took my photographs of them and moved on by.
Here is a beautiful goldfinch.
This aptly named whitethroat will have migrated here all the way from sub-saharan Africa! Apparently its Scots nickname is a “blethering Tam” because of its endless chattering from bushes.
Its only in the last few years that I’ve become more aware of them and have tuned in to their song.
Another migrant from afar is the sedge warbler. It has an amazing warble which you can’t fail to notice.
Grasshopper warblers come from North West Africa and are very difficult to spot. They really do sound like grasshoppers trilling from the long grasses on moorland. I got lucky and took my first ever photograph of one as it went up into this hawthorn bush. I watched it through my binoculars and sure enough I could see its beak open and its throat vibrate in time with me hearing the buzzing sound.
We have a lovely babbling brook which runs alongside the lane near the farms. Every year sand martins nest in holes in its steep muddy sides. They too have migrated thousands of miles. They are very difficult to capture on camera as they flit about so fast, capturing insects.
But then these two obligingly came for a wee rest and a preen on this barbed wire fence.
These birds are just brilliant to see. Finally a picture of one of our year round birds, a busy thrush with a worm in its beak. It is well camouflaged. Can you see it?
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 