A bit later this year but finally Redstarts have arrived in the hills.

Bit earlier than last year - my first Redstart back in Rainow. And my first Willow Warbler on the same day just like last year! 

At last Redstarts have finally arrived in the hills. Three singing males this morning plus my first Willow Warbler of the season. This afternoon on Yearns Low above the village I saw a group of 4 Wheatears.

A House Martin made a brief appearance over our garden today. They usually do this and then disappear for days, even weeks,  before re-appearing with company to re-start the usual colony in the village.

Went for a stroll from home with my wife this afternoon and it produced one of those quality birding memories. We were climbing the path away from Lamaload Reservoir water treatment works up towards Yearns Low & Rainow village when I heard a takk-takking call. I could see a 'blackbird' sat in some scrub but with its back to me. It hunkered down and didn't move for ages so I kept the bins trained on it determined to make it into a Ring Ouzel. My wife suddenly said "isn't that a Redstart in the tree just above it?" It certainly was and kept us entertained dropping down into the grass and back up again. Then my eye was suddenly drawn to the left of this scene as a male Wheatear hopped into view. Eventually the 'blackbird' moved and revealed itself to be a female Ouzel but then we noticed it had a male partner as they both flew up into the tree. So four unexpected quality birds in the same binocular view. Cool eh?

It started snowing on us after that and hasn't stopped all evening. Just hope they all pull through it and their long trip is worthwhile eventually!

Great to see my first male Redstart of the year this afternoon. Same data as last year & same area. Pleased to see it feeding happily. When did it arrive though? Can't imagine it battling against the brutal northerlies we've been facing this week.

This Sparrowhawk, as beautiful as it is, has now become a problem in our garden 

Most unexpected encounter yesterday on the last leg of my walk from home. Battling against the wind and ready for my lunch I rounded a corner below Yearns Low in Rainow and saw a couple of birds in the snow at the side of the track ahead of me. Couldn't quite believe it when I saw they were Crossbills apparently 'drinking' snow. I was adjacent to a small windbreak of conifers and after a while the birds flew up into them and I heard several delicate musical contact calls. After a while I had placed 4 birds, 3 of them males, including one gorgeously orange bird. I had the sun behind me and the birds were not at all bothered by my presence. But did I have my camera?  

Couldn't find any Redstarts today but connected with several Willow Warblers, and Swallows were now in evidence at a couple of the local farms. The late afternoon sun had brought a pair of Little Owls out to sunbathe above the doorframe of their derelict barn, taking turns to drop down to the ground, presumably to pick off insects or worms.

Male Redstart today in the sun. What a gorgeous, joy to be alive, bird. Willow Warbler yesterday. You know this lockdown has forced me to renew my love for the home patch!