104th bird for the parish + nature round up

A walk from Much Hadham back home yesterday was most successful. On the 16th tee of AshValley Golf Club I encountered my 1st local wheatear of the year, a female that departed before I could manage a worthwhile photo. A passage migrant bird, it will be making its way to the moors and hills of the north to breed. I suspect more will be passing through over the next fortnight.
However, even more startling was a sighting made near the golf course. Firstly, I heard a deep "cronk" sound and looked up to see a very high bird, large and black with a wedge shaped tail. A raven; a new bird for my parish records. The bird was heading in a northerly direction and due to the hazy conditions a nd having just set the camera for some plant photography, I sadly missed the opportunity to get even a record shot of the bird as it disappeared from view. This record, along with the wheatear one were sent to the county recorder.
The moth trap remains very quiet, apart from a new insect for the year: a nicropholous humanator.

This is one of the sexton beetles and as such, is responsible for burying dead birds and small mammals. It then lays its eggs on the decaying creature.
Another red chestnut was also taken in the trap, but all other 20 moths of 4 species were ones that I catch every night.
Yesterday afternoon I popped into visit Wilstone Reservoir at Tring. I was booked to give an RSPB lecture in Oxford and had a few hours spare. Not much to report apart from the expected wildfowl, gulls and cormorants, but a flyby sand martin was my first of the year.

red chestnut

This morning, having checked the trap, I noted 2 bullfinches in the bird cherry tree in the garden. Not a regular visitor to our patch, so a most welcome add of colour to a grey start to the day.

female bullfinch

male bullfinch

Finally, another wander around the golfcourse gave little new apart from a flock of in excess of 100 fieldfare. These are obviously migrating as they weren't present yesterday and may hang around a while before continuing their journey over the North Sea to Scandinavia and their breeding grounds.