Successful local walk: 09.03.14

A glorious morning, cloudless and extremely warm. The temperature by early afternoon registered 20C and so I set off early for a check around the west of the parish.
A chiffchaff was calling in Chapel Lane, the first of the year and by the time I got to Valley Fields I had registered some good birds: kestrel, sparrow hawk, common buzzard etc. Along the public byway here there were still good numbers of fieldfare and redwing, but no hoped for nuthatches. Robins, tits and chaffinches as well as wrens were in good voice.
Through Westland Green and a goldcrest calling before a flyover nuthatch. I doubled back to try to get a photo but it was too mobile. It then disappeared into the wood I was going to check and started singing. Lovely burbling sound and my first of the year. The woods here have a flooded gravel pit in the centre and here I connected with the resident population of mandarins, 7 of them under dense undergrowth as usual. A wait for 20 minutes proved fruitless as they headed further into the flooded wood before eventually flew off in the direction of the village.

comma

Round the woods and on to the golf course. 3 comma butterflies were noted, again, first for the year and several more buzzards, green and great spotted woodpeckers. My target bird was lesser spotted, which I have never seen in the parish, but there are so many suitable habitats that I feel sure they are somewhere local. No luck today, though.
As I wandered down the lane a brimstone and then peacock butterfly passed by, as did a pied wagtail and a party of common and black headed gulls. A group of 4 long tailed tits kept me company as I checked the hedgerow of New Lane, coming across a single singing yellowhammer.
In all, including 2 red kite seen a couple of hours later, an amazing 41 species for the day + 3 butterfly species. Also, good quantity of germander speedwell growing in the verges, so all in all, a really good 3 hours.

comma

long tailed tit

tough birding habitat.

Species list: Year listers in bold.
mallard, mandarin, common buzzard, sparrow hawk, kestrel, pheasant, moorhen, black headed gull, common gull, wood pigeon, collared dove, green woodpecker, greater spotted woodpecker, skylark, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, song thrush, redwing, fieldfare, blackbird, chiffchaff, goldcrest, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, nuthatch, treecreeper, magpie, jay, jackdaw, carrion crow, rook, starling, house sparrow, chaffinch, linnet, greenfinch, yellowhammer and red kite