Back to normality

After the excitement of the White-throated Robin  & the weekends Blyth's Reedwarbler its back to a bit of normality with local birding. Plenty of activity in the garden with the appearance of several broods of young Goldfinches and Greenfinches amongst the tits on the feeders. I'm now having to fill them up more regularly again. The wrens above the porch have fledged but it was sad news on some of the nest boxes as some young have died during the recent wet and windy spell of weather. I've also found a Pied Wagtails nest with 4 dead young that were within a week of fledgling. It seems earlier broods have all got off safely but the colder snap meant starvation for some later ones.
John & I managed to ring a couple of broods of Swallows on the Wirral earlier this week and also caught a couple of adults. Stunning little birds. I've even managed a couple of Wirral Hobby's this week with one alongside the M53 at J 4 and one alongside the A540 near the Burton turning.

Jackdaws have also fledged locally and are flying around chasing the parents begging for food. I'm thinking of putting a box up for them in one of our taller trees to try and deter them from using our chimney.

Wader numbers on the Wirral shore are dropping as birds move north to breed but a quick evening visit to Hilbre was rewarded with a small group of summer plumaged Sanderlings but no further sign of the Blyth's Reed warbler. Incredibly two more have been caught and ringed at North Ronaldsay Obs and Calf of Man Obs this week but Hilbre remains at the forefront of spring Blyth's identification! There have been no other records apart from these ringed birds so it shows haw many may slip under the radar!

With several singing male Common Rosefinches turning up in the UK over the last week - including one on Anglesey - theres still hope for a Cheshire or Wirral bird......................................