Tuesday April 1 - Preston Bagot (and a late twitch to Earlswood)

 I have to admit that I have a slight aversion to birding on April 1. If you did find something good, you can just imagine the eyebrows being raised. "Oh yes, April Fool, very good." Having said that, I cannot remember a birding April Fools joke, and I'm pretty sure I've never stumbled on anything earth-shattering on that date.

But people have though, and genuinely. The classic which comes to mind was on April 1 2005. An old friend of mine, Roger Broadbent, was birding along the canal near his home at Ingestre in Staffordshire when he came across a Belted Kingfisher. I mean bloody hell, hardly any British records, a North American species of Kingfisher on a canal in Staffs? On April 1? Do us a favour. I was at my desk at work when I got the call, and had to be persuaded it wasn't a joke. Fortunately I had a boss who would let me take time off at very short notice, so I dashed home to Redditch, shedding items of clothing as soon as I got through the door and changing into birding attire before jumping back into the car and heading for Staffs. Lyn later said the sight of strewn clothing when she got home from work was quite alarming.

I got there in time and saw it. It was a Friday. Many who had waited for confirmation plumped for Saturday and missed out. By then it was heading for Aberdeen where it was found a few days later, I'm not making this up, by Roger's son who was a student at Aberdeen University. 

That's a good reason for loving birding.

Anyway back to today. I had picked Preston Bagot, an area of pleasant rolling countryside at the eastern edge of my circle, it consisted of field after field of pasture nibbled almost to the roots by sheep. Very little of any consequence popped into view.

Plenty of Chiffchaffs though, and the light was fantastic.

Chiffchaff

Blackthorn hedge

Nuthatch

Stop Press: Just after I'd finished blogging the Whatsapp pinged. Joe Owens had found a couple of Little Gulls at Earlswood. This is a species I have seen every year since I started the extended patch, but only ever on a single day each time. I needed to see them.

So fifteen minutes later I was at Engine Pool, Earlswood, and to my relief so were the Little Gulls. They were both adults and were feeding on the wing with a dozen or so Black-headed Gulls. Seeing them was the easy bit, photographing them much trickier.

These are my best efforts, plus one of Joe in the background.