Redstart ramble

I got up at an ungodly hour this morning for a successful walk around Sherwood Forest (specifically Birklands - the area that used to be known as Sherwood Forest Country Park) to look for Redstarts -something I have done the last couple of years. In addition to these stunning little birds (definitely one of my faves), there was a nice supporting cast of woodland species - quite a few Spotted Flys, at least 10 singing Tree Pipits, several fly-over Crossbills, plus a few Marsh Tits, a Cuckoo, and lots of Nuthatches,Treecreepers and GS Woodpeckers. Lesser Spot was the only real absentee.

Early morning in Sherwood Forest

In summary, I recorded Redstarts (either a singing male, or a pair in which the male wasn't singing) at five locations in the north-western sector of the site. This is on the low side when compared with previous years:

12th May 2011 - 5 singing males/pairs
28th April 2011 = 11 singing males/pairs
7th May 2010 - 9 singing males/pairs

However, Carl recorded 7 singing males at the site a few days ago, so I do wonder if the apparency of this species declines as the breeding season progresses - presumably as birds pair up. Indeed, I stumbled across two pairs, in which the male was completely silent, completely by accident; there is a lot of habitat out there, so I'm certain I missed more. Anyway, I'm going to go back for another look on friday, this time with a GPS as recording exactly where the birds are on a map in the middle of some fairly featureless woodland is not easy...

Spot the Redstart

Finally, the mystery of the Pacific Swift at Collingham seems to have been solved - apparently it was seen again first thing today, and this time it was confirmed that not only did the bird have some white on its rump, it also had some white in its tail, so an aberrant Common Swift.