Trip reports

Strawberry Line

Saturday, 25 April 2009

23 of us braved the forecast of heavy showers and were rewarded by a sunny and breezy morning. Only one of the clouds gave a few spots of rain. At first my notebook contained mostly Hs by the birds' names, as, apart from long tailed tits and great tits, we heard many more birds than we saw. However, as the morning progressed, I scribbled out most of these Hs; chiffchaffs became clearly visible. Janet spotted a reed warbler and I had a good view of it too. At least two of us even caught a glimpse of a Cetti's warbler as it flitted across a gap. An obliging sedge warbler perched in full view on a barer branch. As I watched a kestrel hovering, a heron flew past behind it. Soon afterwards we saw the kestrel swoop down into the next field, and after a tussle in the long grass it emerged carrying a rodent in its talons and flew off towards the nest boxes. A little later we saw the female kestrel a couple of times in the entrance of box 2. A postwoman cycling past told us there was a grey wagtail at the end, but we didn't go that far. When we reached our turning point we crossed the bridge over the rhyne and walked a short distance along the farm track. In the hedge we heard an insistent lesser whitethroat. It remained invisible but at least we had a good chance to learn its song.
Thanks to Trevor and Tony for a pleasant morning. Margaret Batten