Dead highlights

After the high, the low. I gave the patch a thorough working over this morning, checking all the hedgerows, the river and the open areas. There is no news. 30 Fieldfare chattering away noisily by the river are a late record for winter migrants in these parts, while spring migrants only consisted of 4 Chiffchaff:

The air is warming up though, and after a mild night many insects were on the wing:

And you know it's a quiet morning when the highlight is a dead bird. This Barn Owl was next to a hedgerow in Old Barns Field, not a roadkill victim and it did not appear to have been shot, so natural causes remains the likely suspect:

To the north this Corn Bunting has returned to hold territory. This time last year I got very excited on finding this species, assuming they were migrants. However, as they stayed throughout the summer Corn Bunting appear to be a scarce breeding species in Cuddesdon:

Next week: more migrants please.