During such a busy season for good birds, it's been difficult to find time to find free time to get down to Woolmer, so with a free morning, I got up and biked straight up for a good morning's birding.
Upon arrival, a Firecrest was calling from the woods, and a few Coal Tits were around as well. Very little was on the pond, so I went straight for the path around. Two Cormorants flew over, a bird I've only seen here a handful of times, so that was a good start to the day.
A very good number of Stonechat and Sand Martin were about, and a few Woodlark were calling overhead.
A bit more was viewable from the other side of the pond, with the Heron out fishing, a few Tufted Ducks, Little Grebes, Egyptian Geese, and a Canada Goose flew over.
The Heron flew off towards the cottage, and as I biked round, I could hear a Cuckoo calling from the woods, a few more Woodlark and a Chaffinch calling.
Around the cottage, a few Goldfinch and Blue Tits were about, and two Song Thrush were on the lawn.
After a quick check around the other side of the cottage on the pond, I noticed a white shape behind some plants, and it soon formed into the shape of a bird I've not seen many times here- a Little Egret. Upon further investigation, it turned out there were three of them fishing around the pond before they flew off to another part of it.
A Garden Warbler was singing out of view, and I couldn't find anything else, so I decided to check the woods to see if anything was there.
A large family of Long-tailed Tits were there, along with a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker and a young Robin.
After a bit more of a look around, I checked the field, with just two Mistle Thrush all seen. I decided to walk around the pond again before heading into the middle to see if anything was there. On the south side of the pond, a call I recognised rather well caught my attention, and before long I easily found the bird I was looking for- a Reed Bunting.
Although a common species, this is not the most common species here, and my first this year at this site (I think!).
After circling the pond, I went up through the woods towards the heathland, with a single Spotted Flycatcher seen catching insects along the way.
On the heathland, a few Stonechats and Tree Pipits were around, and at least one Cuckoo was calling again. A Kestrel was hunting around, but not much else could be found.
As I was heading back to the cottage, the two Hobbies flew over.
At the cottage, a Blackcap was singing and a Pied Wagtail flew over, but everything had really quietened down, so I decided to head home, happy that I'd been able to get some patch birding in again.
Although nothing special was seen today, the highlights were the Little Egrets, Reed Bunting, and a good scattering of other species, had made the time very enjoyable, and a total of 53 species were seen, my highest total for ages, just below my site record of 54 species- hopefully I'll beat that soon!
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