Sunday April 3

A cloudy start, with the sun breaking through from mid-morning. A light southerly breeze.

Dave and I chose to head towards the pool by the most direct route, but we were a little disappointed to find that all the new arrivals from Thursday had gone. However, in their place we found the first Swallow of the year over the pool, while the Oystercatchers which had graced the furthest flash had been replaced by a pair of Gadwalls. Although not a punching the air moment, this was still a species which failed to appear last year, so we were quite pleased to see them.

The pair of Gadwalls

The flash field also contained 21 Teal, three Green Sandpipers, two Redshanks, and four Snipe.

We wandered back recording more singing Chiffchaffs, before Dave encouraged me to head down to the south end to check out the remaining ploughed field for Wheatears. None were found, but the decision did prove fruitful as a calling Curlew led to us spotting a group of three heading south. This equals the best count for the site, which was set in 2008. This time I managed a photograph....of sorts.

Three Curlews heading away

The signs are encouraging this year, although there is still no evidence that a pair is re-establishing a territory.

By late morning the sun was out and scanning the skies produced three pairs of Sparrowhawks and at least 15 Buzzards circling.

Common Buzzard

Perhaps if we had stood around all day a rarer raptor may have flown into view, but as that wasn't an option we called time on the visit.