Hail......

......summer is here.

I had to shelter under the trees from not one but two hail showers the second of which lasted for several minutes and was quite heavy....and I thought it was 21 May!

It was important for me to revisit Barbondale again to check out the birdlife and see what was/wasn't present here, it's also as important to note the birds 'missing' as those seen. A significant absentee was the Spotted Flycatcher closely followed by the Cuckoo. Other birds not seen today included the Wood Warbler and the Dipper which was something of a surprise as I had the stream in view most of the five hours I was here.

Pied Flycatcher. Brian Rafferty.

The good news from Barbondale again this year is the presence of the Pied Flycatcher albeit I only found a female at one location and a singing male up to a quarter of a mile away at another, maybe two pairs, or a pair with the singing male trying to attract a second mate being that the male Pied Flycatcher is notorious for its behaviour in which it will acquire a distant territory in order to deceive the second female about his first one.

Sightings worthy of note today other than the obvious 'prescriptive' birds, a Common Sandpiper, at least 4 Grey Wagtail, I saw only one male Wheatear, heard only one Tree Pipit, and noted 3 Stonechat, the best bird had to be the male Whinchat seen as one of our summer visiting gems, hopefully a female may be sitting. The other bird of note was the Green Woodpecker which was again 'yaffling' on and off for the entire duration of my visit as it has been for my two previous ones here.

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for his Pied Flycatcher.