Thursday April 14

The weather forecast suggested that this morning would be pretty wet, so I abandoned my original survey plan and settled for just mooching around the patch. As it turned out the weathermen were far too pessimistic and after a cloudy start the sun came out and the late morning to early afternoon was warm and sunny.

It didn't take me long to add to my year list as a Sedge Warbler was in full song, though invisible, at the dragonfly ponds. This was my earliest record here to date. Continuing with this theme, as I reached the pool a distant rattle (song) told me the first Lesser Whitethroat of the year had arrived. It also remained hidden from view. Not quite my earliest, but only a day out.

After this promising start the birding remained enjoyable, but I was unable to add anything else new. Highlights were a dozen Tufted Ducks on the pool, a trickle of Swallows heading north, a Willow Warbler in the hedge by the flashes, which contained the usual two Redshanks, three Green Sandpipers, three Snipe, four Lapwings, and 12 Teal. A single Redpoll flew over, three Wheatears were on the ploughed field, and Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were singing in numbers, seven of the former, and 11 of the latter. The Little Owl seems to have been gazumped by a Mallard which is nesting in the tree hole the Little Owl usually favours.

A smug looking female Mallard

Willow Warbler

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Almost all of a Treecreeper !

There was plenty of other wildlife to look at as well as birds. One of the most dramatic incidents was when a pair of Roe Deer bucks came haring past me and chased each other around the pool field, briefly head butting one another, before leaping the fence and making off across the ploughed field.

This rather fuzzy shot was the only one where I got both bucks fully in frame

Insects on show included Buff-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees, Honey Bees, and the Yellow-legged Mining Bees in their colony with an attendant parasitic Bee Fly, probably Bombylius discolor. I also saw my first Peacock butterfly this year and a few Small Tortoiseshells and Brimstones.

Yellow-legged Mining Bee, Andrena flavirostris

Spring has definitely arrived.