Tuesday April 5 - site hopping

 I probably didn't make the best use of my time this morning. As usual I had a best case scenario in my head, and reality fell short. 

I began with a more relaxed exploration of Mappleborough Green Flash. This confirmed the difficulty of viewing the largest scrape, but also led to the discovery of a second, smaller flash which can easily be viewed (and probably disturbed) from the public footpath.

The small flash

I didn't add much  to the lists contributed by myself and Gary J over the weekend, eight Snipe were flushed accidentally when I got lost, three Little Ringed Plovers, a Green Sandpiper, four Meadow Pipits, and two Redwings were the best of the birds I'm willing to blog about.

Little Ringed Plover

The next part of the plan was to go to Middletown, where I hoped the big field might contain a Wheatear. It didn't, but at least 74 Golden Plovers have resumed occupancy, several of them in the impressive summer plumage shown by the more northerly breeding birds.

Distant Golden Plovers

The last throw of the dice was to go to Arrow Valley Lake, where I was hoping I might see a hirundine. There is growing concern about the lateness and poor numbers of Sand Martins in particular this spring, and my efforts failed to provide any good news. I am hoping they are just late, as the alternative is that the population may have crashed on the wintering grounds.

Instead it was just the usual stuff, with five singing Blackcaps again, a drake Goosander, and a female Mallard with a brood of ducklings the pick of a very meagre list.