Round four

This is what dire birding does to you - you end up taking arty shots of trees and vegetation
As far as the Surrey v Northumberland patch challenge was concerned, April was one of the months in which I thought that plenty of time in the field would provide several 'bonus' species - and by 'bonus' I was thinking Garganey, Marsh Harrier, Osprey, various waders, that kind of reward. Even though I spent many hours searching, nothing approaching a surprise materialised. In fact, the birding was dire most of the time. I did not manage to dredge up a Common Redstart or Ring Ouzel. I found but single Hobby, Lesser Whitethroat and Whinchat. Apart from Blackcaps most of the summer migrants were in suppressed numbers.

Of course May is in its infancy, so there is still plenty of time for the migrant numbers to swell. I think I need to take last month's results on the chin and carry on regardless. It isn't the lack of bonus species that gets to me so much as the lack of birds.

Uber patch Jan-April total: 118 species (55.39% of personal historic total)
Mini über patch Jan-April total: 82 species (63.07% of personal historic total)

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