For a few moments when I looked out onto one of the bird feeders this morning I thought that a green woodpecker was hanging there but then I realised that I was watching quite the largest male hawfinch that I have ever come across. In fact his brilliant Spring plumage as well as his proportions brought to mind some of the parakeets that I saw in Sri Lanka a few weeks ago! Anyway, he was big.
Speaking of the garden, I had fleeting views of a black redstart yesterday, most likely a returning bird looking for his traditional nesting sites in one of the walls. The kestrels meanwhile have again taken up residence on the gable end.
The flooded fields continue to recede and the plovers numbers are declining although lapwings still are present in their hundreds. No waders have turned up for a while but other shovelers have arrived; there were five males and just one female at Fougère yesterday and six males and two females today. Gull numbers have dwindled to about seventy and at one point they all took to the air along with the plovers as a male hen harrier passed over.
Stonechats and corn buntings have joined in the birdsong and I heard a white wagtail singing (as opposed to calling) earlier this week.
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