Rumble in the urban jungle

A Willow Warbler pauses for thought

It's has been all about The Scrubs recently. It has become a major drive in my life to visit my local patch come rain or shine (usually rain of late) to witness migration and hopefully add to the species tally. These days I am also now fully equipped with digiscoping capabilities so expect to see more of my largely terrible photography!

This morning I noted a tiny bit of evidence of the migration to come. Two Sand Martins swung by motoring west, low over the grassland and there were at least three migrant Willow Warblers at large. This latter species is a regular spring and autumn migrant at The Scrubs but has only been proven to breed once, in 2010, despite there usually being males singing sometimes well into June most years. Having said that, no male pitched a temporary residency this year which was hugely disappointing.