Other notable birds on an excellent mornings birding on the patch were a single White Wagtail on the football pitches, my first Hobby of the year and a couple of Northern Wheatears - only my 3rd and 4th birds this Spring. But the morning ultimately belonged to the wonderful sound of a singing Nightingale in the scrub on the north side of Motorcycle Wood - a most welcome patch tick, having missed the last bird on the patch back in September 2013.
I was with Nick in the SSSI when he thought he heard the brief song of a distant Garden Warbler or Nightingale but as I had my 8 year old son with me (Mrs B was taking part in the Wanstead 5km park run with my eldest son) and I had to drop him back once they had both finished running, so I left, leaving Nick to try and locate this bird. A short while later (fatherly duties done), I was back with Nick who quickly confirmed it was indeed a Nightingale and he had pinned it down to an area of dense scrub on the north-side of Motorcycle Wood, a tense (potential patch tick) few minutes passed before the bird burst into song again just a couple of metres from where we were both standing, and then for the next 10 minutes or so we both enjoyed the wonderful jaw-dropping sound of a singing Nightingale in full song - I did manage to catch a couple of fleeting glimpse's of the bird, but to be honest the poor views never really mattered as it was all about that hypnotic song.
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One of the two Male Northern Wheatears on Wanstead Flats. |
What a great morning's birding Tony. Patching at its best...
ReplyDeletePatch days like these are sadly few and far between Steve, but when they come...boy they feel good
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