It’s the start of a new week, and I’m gardening for the day for a friend above the village. It ‘s a nice sunny spring morning, and Chaffinches, Spotless Starlings, Great Tits and Blackbirds all added to the House Sparrow chatter to provide a familiar background buzz. No surprises there…
This time, no mistake. I definitely heard Bee Eaters calling from below the house…sure enough, there they were. A small party of four or five birds soon passed up and over the garden, close enough to give just a hint of their dazzling colours and show the unmistakable bodyshape. Superb birds, and the very first of the year for me. Terrific!
Another favourite summer visitor of mine has recently returned to Lanjaron…we’ve had Alpine Swifts swooping and swirling round the crags along the ridge for a couple of days now, but I had a really nice view today as just one individual bird passed through, floating over the house for a while before moving on. As we commented only recently, they’re the giants of their family. With a wingspan of nearly two feet and their clean, white throats and chests, they’re a bird I always look out for as the skies start to fill with hirundines and their other swift cousins.
We’ll be updating regularly…stick with us for all the birdwatching news as the new month approaches!
