No Chiffchaffs on Patch Yet!

Lichen

What a difference two days makes! An I D would be welcomed.

Signs of spring.

Some reading material.

I feel spring is making only slow progress this year with the land on patch still taking time to recover from the long winter, although there have been a few signs of the changing seasons.

On Thursday I thought I would look and listen for any returning Chiffchaffs which made there first appearance on 20th March last year. There was no sign of them, but what I did find was that a flock of around twenty Redwings still remain on patch, although they were initially well hidden amongst the trees and certainly not showing as well as earlier in the year. A few trees are showing signs of real life now and I came across fungi which I photographed. I now have the Collins Fungi Guide given to me as promised by a reader of the blog. As yet it hasn’t helped me identify the species I found. Blimey, I didn’t realise there were so many fungi! Seems I have work to do here.

Friday failed to bring any Chiffchaffs too, so I wondered if they would make an appearance again on the 20th. I was out this afternoon and there’s still no sign of them. The rain had made the recently dried pathways muddy again, but also seemed to bring some spring colour to the area. Some of the lichen is especially attractive at the moment. I took another look at the fungi I photographed on Thursday and it looks very different now. I think I’m going to have problems with this lark. I’d welcome an ID please until I get stuck into the guide.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming briefly today and I think I caught a brief sighting of it as it flew from trees behind the Plough pub. There was lots of song from Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins, Wrens, tits and finches. I also found a pair of Bullfinches.
I never did get to Iceland by the way. A nasty bug ensured that I had to call my trip off so I made use of the time spent resting by re-reading the New Naturalists, A History of Ornithology/Peter Bircham which is a good follow on from my re-read of The Bird Collectors I mentioned recently. I’m now onto a re-read of the Wisdom of Birds/Tim Birkhead. All full of interesting info on the history of ornithology. It’s quite strange what only in quite recent years academics use to think was factual information about birds. I wonder what after a few more years, what we take as fact will be proven to be false information? This is what makes for such interest. Birding and nature takes you in so many directions!