Home and Away: A Walk In The Sun

At long last I had an opportunity to get a good walk in today, to see what was about in the southern half of the island. Having parked up in the small car park at the top of Sweethill Road here, I then headed west towards Reap Lane Barns here.

En route there were a few Swallows heading over the horse fields and a lone Common Whitethroat from the hedgerow west of the barns.

Having not found anything else here, apart from dozens of House Sparrows bathing in a puddle from last night's rain, I headed towards the South West Coast Path here and then headed south towards the Top Fields here.

En route I came across more Swallows heading up the island, 2 male Stonechats, a further 3 Common Whitethroats and a pair of Ravens being rather raucous.

From the Top Fields here and here, down to Culverwell here I came across more migrants with a lone Sand Martin, 20+ Swallows, 2 Stonechat, 2 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear and 5 more Common Whitethroat.

Sadly there wasn't anything to be found at Culverwell so I headed back up the main road to the footpath here, and made my way along the hedgerow here. Along this stretch I came across a Chiffchaff and another 2 Common Whitethroats.

Instead of following the path towards Sweethill, I doubled back on the otherside of the hedge here and made my way to Sweethill Farm along the track here. There was another Chiffchaff along this route and 3 more Common Whitethroats. A few Swallows were seen flying back and forth along the track, where I tried to get a few photos of them head on.

The walk took exactly 3 hours with 32 bird species recorded, including my first Pheasant this year.

Birds recorded:

3 Buzzard

1 Kestrel

3 Pheasant

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

20+ Stock Dove

Wood Pigeon

Collared Dove

Skylark

1 Sand Martin

50+ Swallow