Still looking out the back door

It was a bank holiday weekend; what else, weather wise, did we expect?  Can't have the working man actually enjoying themselves when they get a day off! Fortunately, for me, my return to work was not until 14.00 hrs so, what with my early finish on Thursday, my Easter break is really five days.
Making the first cuppa of the day, around 07.30 hrs, a Brambling was scratching about under the feeding station so I made the effort to grab my bins and camera kit - it would be to hand should anything interesting occur as the morning progressed. The BBC forecast was predicting (fairly accurately) early morning sunshine before a belt of cloud, and accompanying rain, arrived around mid-afternoon.

At least three Chiffchaffs flitted along the boundary hedgerow, as I watched the activity around the feeding station. I encountered a further six, or so, as I made my way to work later. A pair of Greenfinches made frequent visits and seem to be intent on nesting in a Leylandii hedge a few gardens to the south of us. House Sparrow numbers remain very good, some of the males are now sporting their full breeding plumage and look very smart indeed. Two pairs of Blackbirds seem to have our garden as a boundary between the two territories - disputes between the birds is a regular feature of my observations. Dunnock, Wren and Robin also look to be prospecting for nest sites in the neighbouring gardens and I suspect a pair of Blue Tits might be in a nest box two gardens to the north. Quite a few Starlings around, although they seem more intent on bathing than visiting the "fat-ball" feeder. A pair of Collared Doves and a lone Wood Pigeon are regular visitors to the garden, pecking around for spilled seed from the feeders.

The highlight of my day came as I walked across to work, at 13.30 hrs, and I saw my first ever Newland's March hirundine - a Sand Martin was skimming over the newly sown field, beside the Old Rose Garden (what's left of it) and is only my second record of the species in sixteen years! My return walk, some eight and a half hours later, revealed a light passage of Redwings, as their calls pierced the darkness of the dank night sky. Surely my first Wheatear sighting can't be too far away?

I can't help myself  - two Bramblings in the garden this morning. My guess is the same female and a new male.
As I probably won't see another one until October - I'll fill my boots!