UK Species Year List to May 2021: 78
Total UK Species in May 2021: 72
New \u201cYear Ticks\u201d in May 2021: 23
New \u201cLife Ticks\u201d in May 2021: 0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
In October of 2020 we resumed lockdown as the second wave of Covid spread throughout the country. Between then and March 2021 we did not leave the environs of our house so back garden birding was all we had. In April we ventured out a little as the vaccination program started to work but all the hides at the reserves were closed. We did, though, manage to fit in a couple of visits into the real world \u2013 but only on our own. By May we had both been double-vaccinated and we felt much better about going out into the great outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anne and I went to the Upper Goyt Valley and Danebank Quarry on the 6th<\/sup> May <\/a>but we were on our own. We had some good luck with plenty of Spotted Flycatchers and even got a single Common Redstart and a single Tree Pipit. We didn\u2019t get the other species we hope to find there – Spotted Flycatcher \u2013 on this visit but we added this later in the month. It was great to be out and about again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We had a Sparrowhawk in the garden on the 17th<\/sup> May.<\/a> It took one of our House Sparrows but I suppose there are plenty of them. We continue to have daily visits from our Grey Wagtail \u2013 we have had one or two daily since February \u2013 but we don\u2019t see two together anymore. Other than that there is a single Dunnock and the usual suspects. We have been entertained by the emergence of Hedgehogs in the garden. We are not sure but I think there are at least three of them and there are nightly nose-to-nose confrontations. Crapping seems to be a principal weapon of theirs! A camera trap has show us a lot of their antics but there have been other nightly visitors; cats obviously but also a Fox which kept stealing the hedgehog food, forcing us to create a feeding station for the hogs that it couldn\u2019t get inside. It also seems to flummox the cats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the 25th<\/sup> we went to Burton Mere Wetlands <\/a>on our own and managed to get a totally unexpected Bittern- but missed the Glossy Ibis. It is indeed a strange year when in the middle of May year ticks include Mute Swan and Chaffinch. Who would imagine you would see your first Bittern of the year at he same time as your first Mute Swan! At Parkgate, the same day, we got our first Marsh Harrier of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n