Friday 14th
Friday mornng saw another visit to the coast - having checked on Shaniqua before heading out - but still no sign of labour, just getting bigger. The winds are NW so not ideal for either sea passage or migrants but the wind was not strong, so a few species were noted. 6.30am-9.30am
highlights were
Velvet Scvoter 5
Common Scoter 23
Common Tern 1
Great Skua 1
Swallow 32
Yellow Wagtail 2
Wheatear 2
Whimbrel 5
Saturday 15th
With still no sign of Shaniqua attempting to give birth and Sheila's lambs seemingly doing fine I went for a walk on Blackdown first thing Saturday, it was fairly cold with a bit of sharpness in the NW wind, so not ideal indeed the signs of Winter started with a Brambling in the wood near the car park - quite late for this species, but there were signs of Spring the highlight being a calling Cuckoo which was sitting on top of the pines and making flights towards the reservoir copse.
Brambling 1
Tree Pipit 3
Woodlark 2
Crossbill c20
Dartford Warbler 2
Stonechat 1
Willow Warbler 4
Chiffchaff 10+
Firecrest 3
Linnet 4
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| Woodlark at Blckdown |
At home in the afternoon there were up to 8 Common Buzzards along with a Red Kite a late afternoon Goshawk, which was very high but almost over the house before disappearing quickly West, 2 Sparrowhawks and 7 Swallows.
Finally, I could tell that Shaniqua was getting a little restless and sure enough around 9pm she started what I would call labour - At 10pm she started to have a little more difficulty, so out with the bottle of lubricant and 3 pairs of arm-length gloves later her lamb was born, and it was huge !!! and just one, but very healthy and Shaniqua is a very natural mother.
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| Shaniqua with her ewe lamb |
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About 8 hours old in this pic.
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| A Red kite from the garden - a bit drab in colour, but definitely a Red not a Black. |
Easter Sunday 16th
The girls had just returned from Portugal about 1am, so I went for an early walk before they were up from 7am-9.30am. A little more cloud and a cold Northerly wind, but hey this is spring !!
the best birds on the walk were
Blackcap 4
Green Wodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Cuckoo (heard and seen)
Swallow 2
Marsh Tit 1
Willow Warbler 1
Chiffchaff 6
Firecrest 2
Woodlark 1
Skylark 1
Yellowhammer 3
Mandarin 2
Mallard 4
Crossbill 2
Bullfinch 4
Grey Wagtail 1
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| Starling in full flow |
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| The Bluebells were out creating the stunning carpet |
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| Only a single Willow Warbler on the walk |
A final outing for my few days off was back to the coast. The winds again were poor a light NW breeze, but by date alone there should be birds migrating . The highlight was an early Roseate Tern which drifted past to the delight of the locals, but by 9am the activity had ceased
Common Scoter 220
Velvet Scoter 2
Bonxie 3
Roseate Tern 1
Common Tern
Sandwich Tern
Whimbrel 14
Bar-tailed Godwit 1
W/Chiff 12
Wheatear 2
The remainder of the day was spent at home mainly tidying the garden and checking on the lambs.
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