On Wednesday 13th the government lifted some rules about how far we could travel. So Brian was first out of the blocks when he headed over Jimmy's former patch at Lee Valley CP.
He informed us of the birds he found & he also went back the next day to add some more ticks to his year list. So on Friday, it's time for Jimmy & I to get back out there for some birding.
As I have said this was Jimmy's local patch for years & it's only 20 minutes from home.
Parking up by the farm at Fishers Green, we are back ticking as soon as we are out of the car when a calling Cuckoo greets us.
We head round to the bushes where we are more or less guaranteed to find a couple of ticks & that is the case when first up we spot a nice Whitethroat showing really well & that is followed by Sedge Warbler. We head down to the Weir & pick up our first Common Tern of the year but we only find another one which was a bit of a letdown but it's another tick & our first Swift soon follows.
The search for a Nightingale proves a disappointment, it's a bit late to hear them now but we had seen a report from a couple of local birders that they had heard a small burst from a couple, but Brian never heard any & we never got to hear that wonderful song while here.
So it's good to be out birding & a total of 5 ticks is not a bad start.
On the 20th we arrange to meet Brian over the patch & bird at a distance from him which was so nice to be doing again.
We start off listening for the Nightingale again but once again no luck.
So we head off round to the bushes & this time along with the Whitethroats we see a nice Lesser Whitethroat quickly followed by Garden Warbler & before leaving we find Reed Warbler. The year list has moved up 3 more so well worth the visit.
Today we get a call from Brian telling us he has just heard a Nightingale over the patch. So within 20 minutes we are over Fishers again.
We never met up with Brian this time but with the information we have Jimmy & I are soon listening to a lovely Nightingale song what a bonus. A walk down to the weir soon gets us another 2 ticks with both Sand Martin & House Martin up with many Swifts.
The aim now is to find a Hobby & after an hour we are rewarded when 2 Hobbies fly over the water & circle around above our heads for over 15 minutes to give us a great treat. So 3 very local trips to the Lee Valley gets us up & running again & with 12-year ticks, not a bad total. what a relief to get back out doing what we love, let's hope it's not too much longer before we can meet up with fellow birders all doing the thing that draws us together.
