I'd just moved one of the bird boxes onto a tree in the open visible from the kitchen window. On the 1st, we had a pair of Redstarts investigating the box, but they didn't stay; they have nested a few years ago in our garage but not this year. We were pleased when a pair of Spotted flycatchers found the box later in the month and seem to be setting up camp there. Again, we've had them before in a different location under the spruce trees.
Caz' ear is definitely getting 'in' as she identified a Garden warbler here, a first for us. She also spotted a Goldcrest family with newly fledged young out and about at the end of the month. Nice to see after the cold winter.
We don't seem to have had Kestrels nesting at the nearby barn this year which is a shame. We had one Tawny Owl roosting in our spruces until the middle of the month, and one sighting at the end.
We had a trip to Dodd Wood to see the Ospreys for the first time. The eggs hadn't hatched but we caught a brief changeover at the nest. We also saw a cuckoo for the first time as we peered down from the top of the Dodd. A nice pair of Jays around. I wore shorts and had to pick off 4 ticks in the next day or two.
I managed a brief walk on the Pennine Way near Alston with Freegle Ed on his way to John O'Groats. There were nice views of Lapwings, probably a Common sandpiper, and nice river-side plants.
The Tawny Owl pellet analysis for April 2010 showed Brown rat appearing in the species list, amongst 31 prey items in 19 pellets. The list in order is: Field vole, Bank vole, Wood mouse, Brown rat, Common shrew, Large bird and Amphibian.
The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until May 2010, with a total count of 48 species.
Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table
| Species | May-10 |
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Brambling | |
| Bullfinch | |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Chaffinch | 3 |
| Coal tit | 2 |
| Collared dove | |
| Curlew | |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Fieldfare | |
| Garden Warbler | 1 |
| Goldcrest | 6 |
| Goldfinch | 5 |
| Great spotted woodpecker | 2 |
| Great tit | 2 |
| Greenfinch | 2 |
| Grey heron | |
| Jackdaw | 4 |
| Jay | |
| Kestrel | |
| Lapwing | |
| Linnet | 2 |
| Long-tailed tit | |
| Magpie | 2 |
| Mistle thrush | 1 |
| Nuthatch | |
| Pheasant | 9 |
| Pied wagtail | |
| Redstart | 2 |
| Redwing | |
| Reed bunting | |
| Robin | 1 |
| Siskin | 2 |
| Skylark | |
| Song thrush | 1 |
| Sparrowhawk | |
| Spotted flycatcher | 2 |
| Starling | |
| Stock dove | 4 |
| Swallow | 6 |
| Swift | |
| Tawny owl | 1 |
| Willow warbler | 1 |
| Woodpigeon | 1 |
| Wren | 1 |
| Yellowhammer | |
| Total: 48 | 29 |
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