Saturday March 21

After a week of self isolating (sort of) Me, Lyn, and the bloke working on our kitchen, I was going a bit stir crazy by last night. Despite the temperature plunging overnight the trap went out and I caught precisely one moth. At least it was a Small Quaker, new for the year.

Small Quaker

This morning dawned bright and sunny, but rather chilly with a fresh easterly, so I decided to head for Morton Bagot.

People seen: seven. Rather crowded for the patch. One of them was even another birder, Mark Islip. Annoying local using the track as a rally course: One car (two people).
Aeroplanes: Two (I thought they'd all stopped flying).

Birds: Much better than recently. At least five Chiffchaffs, were singing, but the main action was at the flash field. Initially it all seemed similar to usual; 21 Teal, 19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, two Black-headed Gulls, a Snipe, and six Lapwings. However, things started to improve as I walked along the footpath and looked again from another angle. A Little Grebe was bobbing up and down in front of the rushes. I called Mark over and we then disturbed another dozen of so Snipe which flew across the flash.

I then moved on to where I stood a chance of relocating the Little Grebe.

Little Grebe

After a while I heard a faint "peep"  call. It reminded me of LRP. The calls resumed periodically, and finally I spotted a pair of Little Ringed Plovers on one of the few patches of mud surrounding the nearest flash.

Little Ringed Plover

Presumably they had just flown in.

The remainder of the circuit was quite quiet. There were four Fieldfares, and three Meadow Pipits on the very muddy horse pasture, but no Wheatears. However back at my car one final good bird appeared. A Red Kite was drifting low over the landscape far to the west. I tried to take a record shot, but the situation was complicated by several Common Buzzards in the same area. The one focused shot may be of the Red Kite (but it just might be one of the Buzzards).

The dot

Jenny from Alvecote would be proud.