Tree Pipit

At last a new addition to the list. It has been very slow going recently despite getting back to cycling to work regularly for the past week or more. Several false alarms have been very frustrating: a flushed crake at the end of a long pre-work cycle to the end of the Central Drove of the Nene Washes that was probably Corncrake but couldn't be sure; then Don's latest Redstart, found on Sunday, failed to show yesterday.

However the numbers of small migrants gathering at Ferry Meadows has been very encouraging and had me down there early again this morning. There was no sign of yesterday's Black Terns but the poplar clump at the south end of Coney Meadow was once again bristling with passerines. A Lesser Whitethroat revealed itself among the mass of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, then just as a friendly lady stopped to chat I heard an unfamiliar explosive buzzing call from overhead. It called several more times and I thought I heard another close by. I watched the bird fly off south over the campsite but it took a while for the penny to drop: Tree Pipit of course. Not a call I hear very often at all.

After waiting a while with Matt Webb to see if the bird(s) reappeared I continued around the park picking up a flock of Swifts and a Spotted Flycatcher on the edge of Heron Meadow before continuing into work.

139 Tree Pipit