After a very long hiatus I thought I better post something to enlighten any dedicated, check-every-day type readers I might have!
Local highlights were finding my first ever self found Waxwings! 15 in Netheravon Road South in Chiswick on the 3rd of March gave me a pleasant surprise when they flew over trilling, 5 of them stopping to grace the pages of one lucky oblivious person's garden list:
Phwoar. Get in there.
Having started ringing very recently however gave me an opportunity to get some much better views of Waxwings!
Jheeeeeeze.
In a close second in the most-exciting-patch-bird competition comes this pair of beauties that were present on the 5th March:
Redshanks. Any waders on the patch are quite an excitement.
So far on the river by Chiswick Eyot I've actually only had 5 species of wader: Redshank, Oystercatcher, Common Sandpiper, Snipe, Lapwing. Considering that it's a River this is a little disappointing. And considering the close proximity of the Wetland Centre (which gets Godwits, Dunlins and Green Sands along with occasional Avocets and Wood Sands) it's more than a little disappointing! I suppose it's a combination of the dearth of inviting mud other than at low water, not spending that much time on patch and the high level of disturbance in comparison. Perhaps I might add some more to that list this year.
I didn't notice this Blue Tit in my garden was ringed until I took this photo,
Another very odd record came on Friday the 25th March in the afternoon when I watched a female Pheasant nearly get run over on the train tracks. Twice. Not really having much of a contiguous area to call the patch I'm having it anyway.
And a Chiffchaff just outside the front door only the other day provided a pleasant summery surprise.
P.S. Hi Jona
