Proper Gander

8  am walk around Woodbury Common today. Birds of note: 9+ Willow Warbler , 5+ Dartford Warbler , 2 Yellowhammer , 2 Swallow , 5 House Martin and 1 Snipe . Many Meadow Pipit , Stonechat , Skylark and Linnet were also seen.

I have had a busy couple of weeks and have had little chance to get out and do some birding. As it was a great weather forecast for today, I dropped Siân at work and headed to Yarner Woods, arriving just after 8 am. There was nobody else parked in the car park, so I had the place to myself for at least an hour. As soon as I opened the car door, I heard a Pied Flycatcher singing. During the course of my 3-hour visit, I must have counted 16+, mostly in pairs. A selection of images are below. It was so quiet in the woods that this Roe Deer almost bumped into me! There were two Redstart singing in the woods at a viewable level and a number of others singing higher up in the canopy. At one point, a male  Pied Flycatcher landed on a branch a few feet lower than a singing Redstart . The Redstart flew down, and a brief, though spectacular, fight ensued. The Pied Flycatcher was chased off. I saw two Spotted Flycatcher that were chasing each other around just after I had spoken to anoth...