Sunday April 21

I arrived at about 08.30 to find no one else present and no Grasshopper Warbler sounds coming from the reedbed. So I had a look at the big horse field where I found a couple of rather smart male Wheatears.

Wheatear

The extent of the buff on the underside may point to the Greenland race, but I gave up on them years ago. By the time I returned to the reedbed a couple of photographers were parked by the posts and the Grasshopper Warbler was in full voice. Dave arrived and it shut up and disappeared. We went for another look at the Wheatears before returning to find that Mike Lane had gone, but a birder from Redditch had replaced him. The Grasshopper Warbler was performing once more to Dave's relief. It soon shut up and disappeared again, and after 15 minutes our patience evaporated and we started on the circuit.

The Sedge Warbler did a few aerial sorties, yesterday's Willow Warbler and numerous Whitethroats and Blackcaps sang, and at least one House Martin was still flying about. In the hedge just short of the former pool a Lesser Whitethroat decided it was not going to hide away and perched in full view, singing all the time.

Lesser Whitethroat

We had continued a few yards further on, when we heard a vaguely familiar wader call. I was sure it was an Avocet, but could it just be wishful thinking. We reached the top of the rise from where we could look down on the flash field. Initially the only white birds I could see looked like Black-headed Gulls. Then Dave called out that there were two Avocets. I looked harder, but they still looked like Black-headed Gulls. All became clear when I realised Dave's Avocets were in flight and he thought they had dropped out of view. We hurried forward and found that they were wading around on the nearest flash. What a relief.

Avocet

Although there were only two of them and there seems to have been a two day gap, it seems pretty likely that these were two of the birds found by Jeff Preston three days ago. The only previous Avocets here were in April 2014.

Also present were about 10 Teal, a Snipe, and a Little Ringed Plover along with the usual residents.

By late morning it was becoming unseasonably hot. We saw numerous butterflies, perhaps 20 Orange-tips, 10 Brimstones, 12 Speckled Woods, and eight or nine Small Tortoiseshells, but they were showing little interest in settling. The first dragonfly of the year, a Large Red Damselfly was perched in a bramble patch by the Kingfisher Pool, very much a traditional spot.

Large Red Damselfly

I also finally got a view of a settled Peacock, one of about three we saw, and a Large White flew by without pausing.

Peacock

A couple of Rabbits evaded my camera lens again, to Dave's amusement. A silent pipit flew across the ridge field and into the distance, a habit which is becoming annoying. We decided to check the south end. This added no more birds, but at least another species of white butterfly, the Green-veined White, decided to land long enough for me to photograph it.

Green-veined White

So another brilliant visit reached its conclusion.

PS Late news: Neil Duggan reports that a Cuckoo was calling this evening, and the Grasshopper Warbler was performing well. Meanwhile I've got my moth-trap out.