This morning work sent me over to the west of Barnsley, south of Huddersfield to do a breeding bird survey/scoping survey of an interesting looking area of upland edge. It was immediately evident that there was lots of migrants about when I left home in York at daybreak with over a dozen Barn Swallow recorded around the York ring road. I arrived at my survey area to find several Willow Warbler singing and a few Barn Swallow flying north. A little look around a reservoir resulted in a couple of Twite, 5 Wheatear, Pied Wagtail and several Meadow Pipit. Another small reservoir in the area was heaving with Barn Swallow (c100+) and the flock also contained 2 House Martin (year-ticks) and a single Sand Martin. A surprise awaited me on the dam wall where a Scandinavian Rock Pipit was sat silently. At a nearby heavily grazed field at least 20 Wheatear were foraging which was also a cool sight.
Back on the local patch this evening 2x Species X were present, the first time I've seen two birds together, which is promising. Overflying the site were 5x Barn Swallow (2 of which were hanging around Patch Pond). A single Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were still present around Patch Pond, but again there was no sign of the ducklings.
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