4 R's !!

Raven, Rouzels, Redstart and Ringing !!!
This morning I was agility training at Staverton and I was getting concerned as several hours passed before I heard and saw Raven. I'm not sure if these birds were the resident pair as there has been quite a bit of disturbance in their favourite conifer belt and these two birds were a couple of fields away. 
Late afternoon found me walking around Borough Hill where I ended up taking a different route around due to so many people and horses.  I spent quite a while walking through the scrub/bushes above the housing estate and the main track. Plenty of common warblers and a surprise finding of a male Ring Ouzel followed a few minutes later by a male Common Redstart.  So well worth the detour!!.
A visit to Daventry Country Park only produced 2 Common Sandpiper sitting on the tern rafts which were being very well used by the Common Terns.
As it was a nice evening I couldn't resist a visit to Harrington and I'm glad that I did.  There was a male Ring Ouzel around the first bunker and yet another surprise in store as at the second bunker there was the unmistakable "purring" of a Turtle Dove which was sitting in a tree.  I think that this is the earliest that I have ever seen this species at Harrington. 
Other birds of note were Yellow Wagtail, 4 Grey Partridge, several Swallows and my first Whitethroat.

Kenny Cramer and his helpers have been ringing at their Milton Keynes site.   Kenny writes " If our last session marked the tentative start of spring then today was an explosion, starting with a riotous dawn chorus followed by glorious sunshine and soaring temperatures making it feel more like July than April.
The reserve was alive with the sound of Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Cuckoos while Common Terns called raucously and Red Kites drifted lazily overhead. Our catch largely reflected the sounds we were hearing consisting of 48 birds of 16 species.
Blackcaps dominated with 16 new and 2 returning birds, one being ringed July 2016 and the other June 2017.   Other warblers included our first Willow Warbler and Sedge Warbler of the season. A Chiffchaff, 1 new/1 retrap Cettis and 2 Reed Warbler were something of a surprise being a full 16 days earlier than our previous earliest record for Linford.
Also of note was a Sedge Warbler which we released unringed due to it suffering from scaly leg lesions similar to those commonly seen in Chaffinches.
Other wildlife included a massive emergence of Ashy Mining bees and at least 7 Grass snakes."

Regards Eleanor