On the 6th a Whimbrel was seen behind the Sands Hotel. This is a favourite spot to see the Whimbrel and I'm guessing that it is the same one that comes back every year.
The 8th saw a brief visit from a Goldfinch, another rare visitor up on the hill but more common down in the village. The highlight of the day was not of the feathered variety but of a croaky variety in the pond. A coupe of ripples in the pond on the side nearest the cottage caught my attention as I was looking out of the window. A close look through the bins revealed a couple of frogs. Then another ripple further out into the pond revealed another three. Then as I scanned the rest of the pond there were frogs everywhere, climbing over each other, chasing each other and mating. It was difficult to get an accurate count but there were at least 51 of them and there were three clusters of spawn. I had never seen so many frogs in the pond at the same time.
Last year the spawn didn't appear in the pond until mid-April so a bit a head of schedule this year.
On the 14th, as I went out to the byre, a Sparrowhawk took off from the rear of the garden. I had a quick look around the area but couldn't find any signs of a plucking/feeding spot.
Overnight on the 16/17th there was a clear sky and temperatures dropped below freezing resulting in the pond having a thin layer of ice over it. This is what happened last year when the frogs left spawn in the pond. Soon after the pond froze over and killed off some of the spawn. This time the layer of ice was much thinner so hopefully there won't be as much damage to the spawn.
Also on the 17th I spotted two Oystercatchers in my neighbour's field, that I call Demi's Paddock (Demi being the name of their horse). This was a good sign as usually there are a pair of Oystercatchers that appear around about now to breed in that paddock. Although last year after initial signs of nesting for some reason they then abandoned the site.
The 21st saw the return of a male Pheasant to the garden feeding on the seed put in the ground trap. He was seen daily until the end of the month when he disappeared.
On the 22nd I spotted three Wrens, two of whom were ringed, so guessing that was last year's pair that bred in the garden and an unringed one, maybe one of last year's offspring. There was also a ringed Dunnock foraging around under the bushes.
On the 23rd birding across the UK almost came to a complete standstill as the Government introduced a nationwide lockdown as it tried to introduce measures to stop the spread of the Covid-19 Coronavirus. The lockdown meant that people shouldn't go out unless it was absolutely necessary and those that could were told to work from home. So there will be lots of garden bird watching going on. You are allowed out for exercise so in theory could still keep an eye on the birds in the area around your home as long as you maintained social distancing. As I live in a rural area that should be fairly straight forward so I can still keep an eye on my local patch.
The 24th saw frog fest part two, this time with a high count of 63 frogs. If frogs are supposed to return to their place of birth to breed I might need to make the pond bigger!!
The last week of the month was the busiest so far with three Blackbirds, one Dunnock, 16 House Sparrows, one Linnet, one Meadow Pipit, one Pheasant, 53 Starlings and a Wren.
On the 29th I had the ground trap set for a ringing session in the garden but only managed to catch and ringed a new female Blackbird.
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