Astounding happenings at Philpstoun*

Since my last post things have hotted up on the patch. On the day of my last post extolling the lack of its virtues the patch produced an avalanche of black-tailed godwits. 42 turned on on my normally quiet flooded field. This peak was never reached again but the blackwits have continued to visit along with an influx of snipe which now seem to be regulars. Since then a number of good birds have turned up: a flyby peregrine and kingfisher and dabchick on the canal for the first time in a few years. To cap this glorious renaissance of the patch today I finally found a nuthatch, a long awaited coloniser taking the patch list to 94 and 85 for the year. Clearly this purple patch will merely mean future dreariness but at least I can momentarily ride on an ornithological high.

*Astounding is relative obviously.