Summer meets winter

Summer migrants seem to have arrived en masse in the last few days; I had a visit to the patch on Thursday, in t-shirt weather, and only heard Chiffchaffs. Two days later, on Saturday, there were several Willow Warblers and Blackcaps at Collingham and Mons Pool, with more today (and at Meering), plus my first two Swallows of the year. Mark Dawson also had a Sedge Warbler at Mons on Saturday, but I couldn't find it a couple of hours later, nor on Sunday, so it was presumably just passing through. 

Also on Sunday, I did a breeding bird survey at Meering for Notts Wildlife Trust. No surprises, but a little party of 7 Lesser Redpoll flew west (and I had another later at Mons Pool), having only had my first of the year last weekend, along with 13 Fieldfares - perhaps a last taste of winter. 

I  amused myself this weekend counting the Cormorant nests on Mons Pool island. There are always a few nests low down hidden in among the Rooks, so I may have missed a few, but I came up with a figure of 57 active nests. These included several with large young in them, which looked not far off fledging. Another pair were only just starting to build there nest - maybe young birds..?!

Back to last weekend, and as well as the aforementioned Lesser Redpoll, a calling Siskin at Mons Pool and Little Owl were new for Patchwork Challenge, as was a female Scaup on Mons Pool on Tuesday and a Ringed Plover there on Thursday.