Decided to stay local to start with today and just as the overnight rain subsided I duly arrived at my first stop, Napton-On-The-Hill. I have to say that despite being right on my doorstep, and renowned as a good migration spot, I've made very few visits to this area. Having spent a good hour there this morning I'm astonished as to why this area has not been high on my priority list!
After parking near the church my first notable of the day was a male Wheatear (pictured) near the church entrance gate, quickly followed by a Nuthatch calling from a nearby Oak Tree. I made my way down the path past the church grounds towards the windmill were Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were being quite vocal, and after a short stop to scan the surroundings I managed to pick up an albeit brief but definite glimpse of Spotted Flycatcher, which flew up into the tree canopy from one of the grave stones, a great start to the day. A walk up to the windmill, which afforded great view across the county towards Coventry, I also managed Raven, Goldcrest, and as I walked back across the meadow, a good number of Swallows were passing through.
After the hill I made my way down to Napton Reservoir which as per usual didn't produce anything of any great interest, although two more Raven passed overhead. Napton surely has to be one of the Midlands best sights to see our largest Corvid, with a good number always being reported in the area.
Having stayed local early on I made my way to Brandon Marsh to catch up with the chaps, and despite the lack of Waders, only one Green Sandpiper on Teal Pool, it turned out to be quite a good day. Before lunch the weather had warmed up sufficiently to bring the Butterflies out and so a good walk around the Farm Pool area produced the usual White's along with various numbers of Brown Argus, Large Skipper, Small Copper, Small Heath, Common Blue, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell plus a very late Marbled White, probably on it's last legs. A walk back to the main hide for lunch produced 5 Pied Wagtail, 10 Linnet near the nature centre and a single Yellow Wagtail, unusual at Brandon for this time of year, which took flight near the top reed bed.
During lunch a Hobby was perched in the left hand dead tree at Teal Pool Hide but the bird of the day for me was a Peregrine which came onto East Marsh Pool at around 1pm, putting the 300 or so Lapwing into a complete frenzy, an excellent end to really good day.
