26 degrees yesterday so I went birding in the dappled shade of one of my local patches- a stunning alder woodland containing a significant number of ancient trees. Although almost at the end of May, the buds are only just starting to burst, so leaf cover is still limited.
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| Alder woodland |
Historically this has been a good site for significant numbers of spotted flycatcher, redstart and the commoner phylloscs. In previous years I have also noted a very occasional wood warbler and breeding redwing. I spent 3 hours of perfect solitude scanning every nook and cranny expecting to find many of the above. It was rather worrying that having thoroughly covered the ground the only migrant birds noted were two spotted flycatchers and a solitary willow warbler. Even the year-round resident woodland species were noticeably thin on the ground. I'm fast running out of birding options as the breeding and post-breeding slump already feels as if it is here. Roll on the autumnal wader passage!
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| spotted flycatcher |
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| spotted flycatcher |
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| spotted flycatcher |
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