Hoveringham in April

Squeezed out one little trip yesterday, managing to keep inside our bird miles limit. Out to the east of the county, to banks of the Trent at Hoveringham.

The most obvious birds were the hirundine. The vast majority of them Sand Martins examining the previous years excavations on the river bank, and these House Martin checking out the mudcups under the roof of a conservatory, and then among them the odd Swallow or two. Pretty easy to understand why Hobbies get seen in the area, and strengthens the likelihood that those distant falcons I briefly saw from the car as we left was probably the pair seen the day before.

Now if you were a Sedge Warbler, do you suppose life would look and sound like this...?

Video - Reeling Sedge Warbler

Plenty around too, at least of them 8 reeling, even if they were very reluctant to show themselves. Patience paid off with a couple of visual sightings. And that song performance, I once heard someone describe it as 'like a Reed Warbler on acid'.

The other nice finds were the Yellow Wagtails, as many as six enjoying the open waters of the gravel pits and river beside the rich cowpat pasture farmland down there. Also got my first Common Terns of the year [#145] which quartered up and down the Trent.