A fine sunny morning with a rather brisk north-westerly saw me back at Morton Bagot hoping to add something new to my year. I had a nice little shopping list of potential new arrivals; Willow Warbler, Wheatear, and Little Ringed Plover being most in mind.
But as the morning wore on I was left to simply log Chiffchaffs, reaching a respectable ten or so. Fortunately the flash field was reasonably impressive. Top billing went to a count of ten Avocets, comfortably my largest ever count here. The supporting cast was decent; two Little Egrets, a pair of Shovelers, a pair of Shelducks (not two males this time), at least 24 Teal, and eight Lapwings. They were nice to see, lending an almost Mediterranean feel to the day, but I was slightly disheartened by the absence of any new migrants.
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| All the Avocets were paired up, so there was no chance of a single shot of all of them |
Three-quarters of the way round I met up with another birder. John had come up from Long Marston where his usual patch sounded pretty good. He also hadn't seen any new migrants this morning, and went off to the flash field to see the Avocets etc.
I continued to my car from where, as luck would have it, I spotted a new summer migrant. And it wasn't one of the likely ones I listed earlier. Instead it was a high flying hirundine which was battling its way north against the breeze. I soon realised to my surprise it was a House Martin. So that's not only my earliest for Morton Bagot, but by one day my earliest ever in the UK.
This also means I have seen all three common hirundines before the end of March for the first time (I forgot to mention a visit to Earlswood on Thursday morning when I saw three Sand Martins and a Swallow).
The times they are a changing.
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