Migrants at Brascote GP

Following my hip replacement on the 23rd April, getting out birding has obviously had to be put on the back burner, as getting around my patch means climbing over a style which is a no-no for up to 6 weeks. It has been great though watching the Blue and Great Tits, busily going backwards and forwards to the nest boxes in the garden, and the Blackbird churning out all the soil in the garden pots! The second weekend I was home, 7 of May, I saw my first 4 Swifts of the year over the garden, and my wife took me to Cropston Resevoir when the Arctic Terns were on the move - but sadly none came through there that day. Today found me sitting here, feeling a bit bored and cooped up, when I remembered that on the Friday the 22nd of April, Pete and I went for my last sortie over Brascote Pits for a while, and I took a few images; it was a bit overcast, but fine for a late afternoon/evening walk. There were lots of hirundine over the front pit, and the first House Martins there for the year. Walking around the pits, migrants were evident all around, with singing Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the sallows and also the Lesser Whitethroat was still there from the weekend before, and still singing well - fingers crossed for them to breed on the patch! The Oystercatchers flew over our heads and landed on the sallows' pool. We were surprised to see when we got up there that they had landed on the old gantry! All in all, a nice little walk giving 35 species - and it was nice to see a few spring migrants too

                                                                    Chiffchaff

                                                                   Oystercatcher

                                                                      Swallow

                                                                 Willow Warbler

Lesser Whitethroat (heavily cropped)

Well that's killed a couple of hours! - just got to wait now till I can get over that style and get back to a bit of patch birding! I will be getting out and about in the next week or two, but only where I can walk safely with my crutches. I did miss a patch tick last Sunday, when Pete found a Grey Plover on the old settling pool (Garganey pool) - not only a good patch tick, but a good Leicestershire bird. In fact, there were 4 good mates of mine doing a Leicestershire bird race, and I passed the news on to them -the the Plover broke the record, giving them a day count of 113 (though they did go on to grab 2 more species and end up with 115)  Well done lads - great total!

As always thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments.