14th August 2016

Headed to the 'migrant hotspot' on the openspace again this morning. Things started rather slowly, with just a Willow Warbler and some Blackcaps and Bullfinches, until at about 8am a Lesser Whitethroat popped out of the bushes. This is my 4th in Yeovil and my 3rd on patch so not a bad start. It showed fairly well up until about 8:45. At about 9am, I picked up a Nightingale in the back of the vegetation, however it was very elusive and only showed breifly a couple times in the sunlight, showing the bright orange tones. This is my second in Yeovil following one in the same spot during spring last year, a great find though better views would have been nice. Shortly after the nightingale, I picked up a Garden Warbler in the bushes as well, my first of the autumn, however it was also very elusive, and being later in the day the vegetation was now full of House Sparrows making it harder to pick out. The total counts of other species today came to 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaffs, 6 Blackcaps, 3 Bullfinches and a Raven.

Lesser Whitethroat - Yeovil Openspace

This afternoon, I decided to walk the path alongside the river between Wyndham Park and Pen Mill, an area of yeovil I've never visited before. It was a pleasent walk and there was lots of promising habitat for migrants. Plenty of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were calling but none were seen, I get the feeling that locating unusual birds here would take more effort than on the Openspace. Sightings included 2 each of Jay and Grey Heron and singles of Kingfisher, Kestrel and Willow Warbler. Also was tantalised by calls from both common whitethroat and common pheasant, neither of which showed and both currently missing from my Yeovil year list.

Suprisingly, common whitethroat is real rarity in north Yeovil since the destruction of breeding habitat, now being less than annual. I suspect there may be some breeding birds in South Yeovil which would be good as I haven't seen any in Yeovil since 2014. Common pheasant is easier to get but is restricted to the outskirts of southern Yeovil, so I don't get them at any of my north Yeovil patches.