Birds everywhere

This flock of about 100 birds aptly illustrates the day - clear blue sky and plenty of birds.
I was up with the lark, and the first few yards of the walk confirmed that the large number of Goldcrests that had been seen and heard yesterday were still around, along with many Robins and tits.
It seemed that every tree and bush along the Otty Bottom track had warblers, goldcrests, robins and tits in it, flying briskly from one to another. This is the kind of activity that I had been told about but have seen only too rarely.

At the top of the hill, this mixture gave way to skylarks (some singing well), thrushes and two flocks of 7 and 5 Yellowhammers. Wheatears were on the bales, and Swallows and House Martins flew above the stubble -contrarily heading north.
Reluctant to miss the good conditions, I drove over to Sandwich Bay observatory, where an almost birdless Scrape was more than compensated by a well-marked Red-Backed Shrike in the paddock.
I took the opportunity to watch the ringing, and walked the nets in the hope of something special (they had Radde's and Yellow-Browed Warblers yesterday) but was happy enough just being close to the common birds that were there.

Yellow Browed Warbler (copyright SteveR)

The SBBO board show the variety and in some cases the numbers of birds around this week - and it looks good for tomorrow too.

And finally, the bumbles bees are mating prior to the females' hibernation - I guess these are carder bees?
And please don't mention the cricket. It has a stump missing. Like Kent.