Lade

Lade - 0545hrs - mild, cloudy, light airs - At last the wind dropped overnight and with it the garden was full of birds, only common stuff but also the first passage Willow Warbler of the season calling from the fir trees. A better night in the Plovers moth trap, but nothing to pot up and pore over: Dot Moth, Knot Grass, Lychnis, Clay and the like...
A stroll over the back (without that blasted south-wester) revealed birds everywhere: Sand Martins and Swifts hawking over the storm beaches, flocks of Starlings and Spadgers on the turf and Black-h-gulls soaring overhead snapping up flying insects. South pit was like a mill pond and as a result the frog chorus was back, plus two Common Sands on the island, Sandwich and Common Terns coming and going and loads of wildfowl, grebes and rails picking over the floating weed. Was good to see a group of teenager worm-drowners, `having the craic` in the great outdoors...
More warblers here too, mostly Whitethroats and Reed Warblers, a few Sedge and one or two more back garden Willows.

Whitethroat, Lade - A tired, worn out adult female.