Tuesday 30 March 2010

Wishful thinking?

I was in the kitchen this afternoon and i'm sure I saw a bird with a white rump fly across the garden into the Pyracantha alongside the feeders. My first thought was Brambling but after about 45 minutes watching through the patio doors I was none the wiser. Maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe it was the white flash on the wing of a Chaffinch. I don't know, but during the garden watching I was lucky enough to see a Kingfisher fly past only twenty feet or so from the patio doors. It's not that unusual to see them whistle through the bottom of the garden, especially if there are fishermen along the near bank but they don't usually come so close to the house.

Above the garden and over the lake there was a constant stream of Hirundines, all approaching from the south and often flying very low for a few minutes feeding before resuming their epic voyage. The vast majority were Swallows but there was also a sprinkling of Sand Martins but no House Martins as far as I could see. But most disappointing was the lack of Alpine Swift among them, I think I might need counselling after missing out on that garden tick on saturday.

4 comments:

Warren Baker said...

its a hard life this birding Phil, :-) I would love the Kingfisher to whizz through my garden!

alan woodcock said...

Hi Phil,I noticed a small passage of Swallows this afternoon,through the lakes.

Steve said...

Kingfisher as a garden bird - that is difficult to beat (except by Eddie of course
:-)

Greenie said...

Phil ,
Given the weather , I wonder what those hirundines are thinking now ?
Re. your counselling , some would say you definitely need it anyway , after a certain post !