Thursday morning

This morning was productive. A Barn Owl was patrolling the meadow on the corner to the south of Rushy and a Little Owl was in its normal spot in the pollarded female Black Poplar. A Yellow Wagtail flew over the field on bordering the west corner of the res. The Barn Owl flew off fairly high to the south suggesting that this is not the bird that appears by the car park as that bird normally heads back to the north.

The GRASSHOPPER WARBLER induced the usual bout of uncertainty when heard briefly and distantly, but then was clearly heard in the bushes along the path that leads up to the Dry Canal from by the Waddesdon Estate gate. I called David and the bird promptly shut up. While waiting for David I saw a bird move along the ground between bushes and so wasn’t entirely surprised when, after David had joined me, the bird commenced singing on the reservoir side of the track in the small clearing. We also saw it briefly but well on the ground and watched it flit about before it commenced singing from a hidden perch (Roy Hargreaves)