Happy St. Georges Day 🏴 ~ Trying to complete our bathroom refurbishment before heading down to England on Monday has meant that all my birding this past week has been early morning and afternoon local walks. The weather over the period has been glorious if not a little chilly out of the sun with the persistent northeasterly breeze.
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| A few more Blackcaps now beginning to arrive. |
To be honest not much has changed in terms of spring arrivals already mentioned in my previous posts with the exception of hearing my first Cuckoo of the year calling through the mist from the nearby Fetternear Wood on the 21st. There are a few more Blackcaps around too with both males and females noted.
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| Peregrine over Dalmadilly. |
Highlights over the past few days have included a pair of Peregrine Falcon displaying over Dalmadilly Ponds, a few close encounters with the local Roe Deer and a Greenland White-Fronted Goose first recorded on the 17th back on Dalmadilly Ponds yesterday afternoon. One noticeable trend locally is that Swallows are currently more prominent than Sand Martins with only a half dozen of the latter recorded this spring over my local ponds. Looking at the birdtrack report rate for weeks 14/15 this year & last it appears that Sand Martins are about a week later and being seen in slightly fewer numbers this year.
With the good weather comes the butterflies and various numbers of Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Small White all noted over the past week.
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| Roe Deer at Dalmadilly |
So for the next five weeks, it's birding all the way, well nearly, with of course time out for sightseeing with the good lady Dazza with trips to England 🏴 Hungary 🇭🇺 and Spain 🇪🇸 all on the agenda.
NEW Scottish Life-List Since Relocating Permanently to Aberdeenshire in October 2020
