Sunday April 8

This morning was cloudy with hardly any wind. I suspected I was going to have a better day when I spotted my first two Swallows of the year here as I was driving past Church Farm. The light was terrible but you've got to haven't you.

Swallow

Dave joined me and we headed towards the pool. A pair of Green Woodpeckers were playing hide-and-seek on a telegraph pole.

Green Woodpeckers

The pool contained two pairs of Tufted Ducks and a Coot. Undaunted, we kept on to the Flash field. Here we quickly discovered that a pair of Little Ringed Plovers was in residence.

Little Ringed Plover

Also present were a Little Egret, four Shovelers, four Gadwall, 14 Coots, 10 Teal, and four Lapwings. We were about to move on when an immature Peregrine swooped across, causing mayhem, not least me dropping my scope. I had just picked it up and was folding away my tripod when we heard a Curlew calling. The tripod went the same way as the scope as the bird came into view.

Curlew

This former breeder is always a good one to get on the year-list.

We headed back along the footpath, discovering a Treecreeper entering a gap in the bark of a dead tree where it was clearly making a nest. Then Dave spotted two probable White Wagtails in the ploughed field. I got them in the scope and confirmed he was right, but they flew off before I could hand the scope over. Dave was now on a roll, because he then noticed a female Wheatear at the top of the same field.

We came up with a plan. If this field had been ploughed, maybe the ones at the south end (the direction the wagtails had flown in) would be too. On the way there we counted 27 Lesser Redpolls, heard a singing Blackcap, and saw the Peregrine again.

The hunch paid off because the south field had indeed been ploughed and was alive with birds. These included 40 Linnets, a Chaffinch, six Pied Wagtails, the two White Wagtails, and another female Wheatear.

White Wagtail

Wheatear

Sadly, the Snowy Owl proved a bit of a disappointment.