Sunny Bonby......30.04.2013.

A lovely afternoon after finishing work today,saw me heading for the 'Local Patch' at Bonby and walking down to the Ancholme and back.On arrival it was apparent that the winter water levels on the fields was rapidly disappearing,but there were still a few pools visible.Duck numbers had subsided as expected for the time of year,but there were still a few Teal,1 pair of Shoveler and at least 15 Gadwall.Several pairs of Shelduck were also present and no doubt we will have some broods at some point in the near future.There were also several pairs of Lapwing and a displaying pair of Redshank which was nice to see.As i got half down to the river i saw 1 female Wheatear,then 2 and by the time i reached the river i had seen 8 birds in total,which included 5 smart males.The best bird of the visit was seen in the same area as the Wheatears...a cracking male Whinchat.It seems ages since i have seen a spring male,so it was a nice surprise to see one sallying for flies from the fence posts.The only raptors i managed today were 3 of the local Common Buzzards and a nice male Kestrel hunting along the river bank.In each of the fields there has been herds of bullocks put down for grazing and this has attracted a good sized flock of at least 40 Yellow Wagtail,which included at least 1 Blue-headed type bird feeding around the cows hooves as they disturbed flying insects from the grass.Other passerines seen included 4 singing male Sedge Warbler and 4 male Whitethroat.A few insects were also observed and included 4 Small Tortoiseshell and at least 10 Peacock.An enjoyable few hours around the local area.

Female Wheatear.

Female Wheatear.

One of the nosy locals.