June 7th

I saw what was almost certainly the same male Marsh Harrier again today, this time closer to home as he searched a wheat field by our lane. I'm guessing that he is a bird with a mate somewhere in the north Broads area, although with the species' utilisation of arable crops in recent years he may have a female much closer by. Somewhat unexpected as I walked Ossie out was the rather feeble song of a Reed Bunting coming from a solitary Willow just north of College Farm. I usually see them here as a winter visitor or passage migrant, and a male sang not far from here for a few days much earlier in the Spring, but I'd had neither sight nor sound of him for weeks so maybe like the recent Reed Warbler, this was a late migrant.

This evening was warm and fine and as I put some rubbish out I became aware that the local Swallows and House Martins had assembled high over the houses, many giving agitated alarm calls. Within seconds the slim form of a Hobby appeared overhead but it seemed disinterested and continued northwards, the Sand Martin colony along the cliffs probably it's intended destination.