Baby Coot getting bigger and bigger...

.....And the new family of 3

MONDAY 13 MAY


Another very unseasonal day with strong WNW winds and cool temperatures....

At SHARDELOES LAKE (BUCKS) first thing, the nesting Mute Swans, 9 Tufted Duck, 1 Great Crested Grebe, male Common Kestrel, immature Argenteus Herring Gull, 38 Coot (including 11 active nests and two familes) and Barn Swallow

And then on to BEDFORDSHIRE where..........

Thanks to Stephen Northwood, I eventually connected with the COMMON NIGHTINGALE in dense scrub immediately north of AMPTHILL BOWLING GREEN (accessed from Church Avenue), the coppice also harbouring both Common Chiffchaff and Blackcap

At BROOM GP GYPSY LANE EAST, the summer-plumaged adult TURNSTONE was present for its third day (see record shots below), as well as 1 Dunlin, 4 Ringed Plover, 28 Mute Swans, 9 Common Shelduck, Little Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher pair and 40 Common Swifts, with another 240 Common Swifts over neighbouring PEACOCKS LAKE. A pair of GREY PARTRIDGES was also seen.

To the north, TEMPSFORD CHURCHYARD yielded my first pair of SPOTTED FLYCATCHER of the year, whilst BEGWARY BROOK NR, WYBOSTON held a singing male Garden Warbler