Bird song
02 Jun 2023
Reed buntings are singing along the Twin Banks. The males are very smart birds with glossy black heads and a striking white collar and moustache, but they must have the worst song of any British bird – a sort of tuneless jangle.
Jeremy Mynott
Nightingales
31 May 2023
Two nightingales duetting in their usual spot in Bromeswell this evening. Better be quick if you want to hear them – they stop singing in mid-June.
Jeremy Mynott
Stonechats
29 May 2023
A small family of stonechats in their usual area behind the Martello.
Jeremy Mynott
Swifts
30 May 2023
Two swifts in off the sea, and to my surprise they headed south. It's been a chill N wind but surely they don't think summer's over yet!
Jeremy Mynott
Holly Blue
28 May 2023
A poor year for butterflies so far but there are some pretty little Holly Blues around, often on ivied walls. They are actually commoner than the Common Blue round here and th best way of distinguishing them is by the heavy black margin on the upper wings.
Jeremy
reed-bed warblers
27 May 2023
A walk round the Twin Banks revealed that the usual reed-bed warblers were in place and singing strongly: reed and sedge warblers chattering away in their carefully spaced territories and a few Cetti's warblers with their more explosive outbursts.
Jeremy
hirundines
26 May 2023
A mixed gathering of swallow, house and sand martins feeding over the East Lane pools. These species would normally have dispersed to their breeding sites by now, so maybe these were late arrivals or non-breeding birds?
Jeremy
May blossom
25 May 2023
Wonderful May blossom this year.
Just wish there were more butterflies to pollinate it. Their numbers seem sharply down.
Jeremy Mynott
No birds!
11 Jan 2023
Walked to East Lane from SS and was shocked to see how few birds there were on the fields and the marsh. No lapwings or golden plover at all and very few wildfowl or waders, apart from a goldeneye on one of the pools. Not sure if Avian flu is a factor, or maybe they just haven't migrated here for the winter from Northern Europe because of climate change? Dire, anyway.
Jeremy Mynott
Winter birds
09 Jan 2023
Sometimes absences are more striking than presences. Very few winter visitors here, possibly because climate change makes it unnecessary. At any rate no redwings or fieldfares on the hawthorns, still berried, on the Twin Banks. No lapwing and just one curlew. There was one winner from climate change, though, a Cetti's warbler calling, which stays here all the years now.
Jeremy Mynott
