Back to mid winter

I popped out to the patch briefly yesterday in the early afternoon, where I was greeted by a bitterlycold northerly wind and wet snow showers. It was miserable, and it looked hard going for the hirundines - there were 80+ Swallows and small numbers of Sand Martins sat in the potato field to the south of Ferry Lane Lake, along with 18 Yellow Wags. A single Common Sand, my first of the year, was at Mons Pool, along with another couple of Yellow Wags.

Another quick trip out this evening, and the number of Yellow Wags had increased further, with c.33 on the south side of Ferry Lane Lake and in the adjacent potato fields and another 8 on Mons Pool - but not a Blue-headed Wag amongst them! There were, however, 3 White Wags with a few Pieds. Other birds of note were a Hobby, sending panic through the hundreds of hirundines feeding over Ferry Lane Lake, and the Common Sand still on Mons Pool.