Whitethroats galore today all over the peninsula by late this afternoon/early evening - presumably a fall helped by this mornings sea-mist which blanketed the coast for a while after dawn. Lesser whitethroats were singing in at least seven separate locations; a dozen of more grasshopper warblers heard (all in typical nesting habitat); there were more reed and sedge warblers; and at least 7 swifts were feeding over the Home farm area this evening with dozens of swallows and house martins. My first spotted flycatcher of the year was singing in trees alongside Bosherston lakes this evening - so summer has now and truly arrived!
Were local Kestrels arriving back from their winter quarters today or just passing through? There were at least 5 individuals hovering/hunting over the peninsula early this evening. Out on the Castlemartin Range a merlin (a fine sub-adult/possibly adult male just about colouring-up) was still present. At least 22 whimbrel were on the coast at Stackpole and a few more sandwich terns were passing offshore.
Yesterday, watched a buzzard plucking a jay on the road-side - are there no woodland birds a buzzard cannot catch? To me, sparrowhawks seem a bit more obvious this spring in places I did not record them last spring, might just be coincidence?
