27/04/10 - Blackcap encounter, and first Sedge Warbler

After two days of drizzle and grey, today was a lot nicer and warmer, prompting me to go for a nice walk around 1pm.

An unidentified wagtail flew over at the Oakfield Road bridge to begin the walk. There were a lot of singing and calling birds of many different types, including a beautiful displaying wren, followed soon after by a male blackcap that flew into a tree just behind me, obliged me with a short song, and promptly flew off again. I thought I'd heard a blackcap singing earlier on and was pleased to see that I might not have been totally wrong! There were 6+ chiffchaffs calling throughout the walk.

The sparrow bush was alive with sound and activity, holding (of course) house sparrows, a starling, superb in the sun, a single long-tailed tit, and briefly a male bullfinch.

A grey heron flew low across the field on the far side of the canal, majestically! Further along on the rise, there was a bush holding a very frantic and angry blue tit calling away any time anyone got near sedge warbler singing (it dawned on me after writing about the blue tit that the noise I heard was a singing sedge warbler - sounds kind of like an angry blue tit!). 8+ dunnocks were making use of the cover further along the canal past bridge 16.

The highlight of the trip, even more exciting than the blackcap encounter, was a sedge warbler in the trees and shrubs on the Aylesbury-side of bridge 16. It was strange seeing the bird in a tree rather than the reeds, but it was undoubtedly a sedge warbler. The brief call it gave was the main reason I was drawn to that shrub in the first place!

A fantastic hour spent birdwatching today - two first-birds-of-the-year for me, being the blackcap and sedge warbler. Here's hoping this luck continues!