Sunday April 18 - encouraging signs

 Another sunny morning, though with some high cloud cover and no wind to speak of. Dave arrived and we set off on our usual circuit. What we needed was something new and different to give the day a boost. Step forward a Yellow Wagtail. It's over two years since I last heard one over the patch, and to add to the thrill I even managed to watch it as it bounded steadily north-westwards. About two hours later we heard another, although this time neither of us could pick it up. In truth this species probably flies over every spring and autumn in small numbers, you just have to be lucky.

Although there was no chance of photographing the Yellow Wagtail, the next new bird for the year was more obliging. Whitethroat is one of the commonest summer migrants here, but it's still great to hear its scratchy song again. This bird was somewhat distant, on the crown of a hedge, but there should be plenty further opportunities to get good views.

Whitethroat in the distance

Same bird - heavily cropped image

We arrived at the flash field and started to tick off the regulars. Four Avocets, six Teal, six Mallard, three Lapwings, and six Black-headed Gulls. Also present was a drake Shelduck, and a Snipe which fluttered out of the sedge before disappearing once more. 

A little later a pair of Little Ringed Plovers arrived and settled on the only piece of shoreline not clogged by sedge.

Moving on we found a drake Tufted Duck on the Kingfisher Pool. This is the only pool that as any real depth to it, and as it was only the second sighting here this year it was deemed worthy of a record shot.

Tufted Duck

By the time we had finished our visit we had added single fly-over Swallow, and Siskin, and had accrued 55 species with no special effort. This all bodes well for the annual spring patch competition, which is pencilled in for Saturday May 1.

The warmer weather encouraged four species of butterfly onto the wing; Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Orange-tip, and Speckled Wood. 

In a flush of enthusiasm we decided to drive down to Haselor scrape, but it looked like it may have suffered some disturbance and all we saw was a Grey Wagtail, two Little Ringed Plovers, and a Lapwing.