Very sunny and warm today on patch but my afternoon walk was cut short by unforeseen circumstances.

One bird sighting of note was a really optimistic one. At least 6 adult Lapwings were in the breeding field east of the Pine Belt and with them I found 3 Lapwing Chicks! These were from two different broods as one was smaller than the other two, and they were split into the two 'broods' spatially in the field. The chicks were well enough developed to be looking like miniature adults but fuzzier and flightless, so past the tiny chick stage giving stronger hope of survival. The field is one that was re-ploughed so the adults did well. The deep furrows make it hard to see all birds in the field so other Lapwing chicks may have been out there. This is excellent news and I have everything crossed for their survival.

The only other report was that I heard a Cuckoo calling over to the west of Big Pool somewhere, heard from the east side of the pool.

Last few days were spent on patch in the sunshine but very little news on the bird front until today!

A new bird for the year was seen a 12.15pm when a stunning Red Kite drifted over Shemmy Moss. Initially if circled up to gain height and then floated off to the east at c.12.30pm. A Grey Heron flew over too for the second time in 3 days. The Canada Geese on Shemmy Moss hatched 3 goslings yesterday too and still had them today. On Nunsmere today 2 drake Gadwall were again seen.

Yesterday (11th May 2024) 2 Hobbies and 2 Kestrels were watched over Shemmy Moss, all at the same time and all hunting, the Hobbies taking Four-spotted Chaser Dragonflies and a Kestrel seen to catch a Common Lizard.