Friday 4 May 2007

...and on a lighter note...

Popped into Wanlip Meadows on the way home yesterday, and saw my first Swift of the summer, plus loads of Swallows and House Martins. There were a couple of Sedge Warblers too, several Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks, two Common Sandpipers, and two beautiful Greenshanks, which I've never seen on my patch before. It takes the patch list up to 115, and the year list to 142.

3 comments:

Andrew Shields said...

I saw some swifts one afternoon last week, but only today did I *hear* them (without seeing them, this time), which is the thing about them that gives me the most joy. "scree, scree"

Matt Merritt said...

Yes, definitely. As I sat down with the paper this morning, I heard them screaming outside. A pair nest under the eaves of a house three doors down, and they were back hurtling to and from the nest. If I stand just outside my front door I can feel the downdraft from their wings as they pass.

Andrew Shields said...

Downdraft: a good title for a poem. :-)