15th May - chilly night, quickly warming, max 18C pm, light NE, sunny periods

The village allotment gardens are currently very attractive to Goldfinch and Linnets at the moment, no doubt the weeds and hedges are very attractive to them.

The male Pied Wagtail, when not bringing food to the nest, likes to sit on the near roof and keeps an eye on things.

I went to Paxton Pits this afternoon to hopefully see/hear the Nightingales and possibly the great Reed Warbler that has been there a few days.  This is a large warbler that is a rare visitor, less than 10 record a year, overshooting on migration from Africa to mainland Europe.  I heard a couple of Nightingales singing, but they were not showing themselves today.  If you have never heard a Nightingale, then you are missing an amazing song.  The Great Reed Warbler was singing from a reed bed that was difficult to see due to bushes, but there were gaps that one could peer through.  The loud song could be heard enabling a fix on the bird, but it was not showing.  After a considerable wait and peering I did see the bird sitting on a reed low down singing away.

There were lots of other birds to see, several Hobbies were hawking insects high, four could be seen at once on occasions.  There are also Heron and Cormorant nesting colonies present.

There is much more wildlife to be seen here, a number of butterflies were on the wing and my first Banded Damoiselle of the year was seen near the river.  Bracket fungi were noticeable, like the one photographed, however I ran out of time to look at everything, I shall return.