The moth trap didn't delay me very long (see last post), so I was in the field in time to experience the last of the morning's light drizzle.
This year it feels as though I'm swimming against the tide. The water levels in the flash field are remaining stubbornly high, and there is no sign that the ridge field is to be ploughed (so no Wheatears).
I needed reasons to be cheerful, and it was a chat which was the first bird to lift my spirits. A male Stonechat in the chat field was the first since the end of February, and was a clear sign that birds are on the move.
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| Stonechat |
Further encouragement came from three singing Chiffchaffs about the site, and a party of northward bound Meadow Pipits.
I could hear Lapwings calling before I reached the flash field, but no other waders were there. In fact, things were looking pretty grim until a large party of previously unseen Teal suddenly emerged from the marshy area between the two flashes. My final tally was 33 Teal, 16 Mallard, a drake Wigeon, five Lapwings, a few geese, a Grey Heron, and a Little Egret which was disturbed by farming activity behind the furthest flash.
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| Wigeon |
The highlight though was the Meadow Pipit flock. I was vaguely aware that a handful of birds were in the field, but something disturbed them and the whole lot got up. They kept landing in the single oak tree before returning to the field. With each eruption of calling birds my estimate increased and I ended up with a minimum count of 62 Meadow Pipits. There may well have been many more.
The walk back added little, although a flock of 22 Lesser Redpolls and a single fly-over Yellowhammer were worthy of note.
I'm aching for spring to get going properly, but until it does I'll just have to be grasping at straws.
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