MU

I have had a remarkable run of birds at Myers Farm and its six-a-side-sized reservoir this year: Black Redstart, Tree Pipit, Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Pintail, Yellow-legged Gull. I guess that with no other wetland nearby, anything that needs to rest/ feed/ wash doesn't have a lot of choice about where to drop in.

Visiting the site two or even three times a day also ensures that I don't miss very much. My visit at dawn this morning was rubbish - as it has been for the past three weeks or so - and it didn't appear much better when I arrived again mid-afternoon...apart from a sparkling, silvery-white beacon of a larid amongst a loafing group of Black-headed Gulls. It was as shiny as an Italian pimp's sun tan. All-white primaries - check; heavy, blood-red bill - check; dark mask - check.

A beauty, and the first I have self-found in the county since one at Willington in 2004. I invited Steve to come along and savour its beauty, but he politely declined. The site is also a bit of a bugger to get to if you're driving.

134 self-found, zero-carbon - the only list that matters to me.

DOM

The Myers Farm 'Complex' Site List

1. Mute Swan

2. Greylag Goose

3. Canada Goose

4. Mandarin Duck

5. Teal

6. Mallard

7. Pintail

8. Shoveler

9. Tufted Duck

10. Red-legged Partridge

11. Grey Partridge

12. Pheasant

13. Cormorant

14. Grey Heron

15. Red Kite

16. Sparrowhawk

17. Buzzard

18. Kestrel

19. Hobby

20. Peregrine

21. Moorhen

22. Oystercatcher

23. Ringed Plover 24. Little Ringed Plover

25. Golden Plover

26. Grey Plover

27. Lapwing

28. Snipe

29. Woodcock

30. Black-tailed Godwit

31. Common Sandpiper

32. Green Sandpiper

33. Greenshank

34. Black-headed Gull

35. Common Gull

36. Lesser Black-backed Gull

37. Herring Gull

38. Yellow-legged Gull

39. Common Tern

Rock Dove

40. (Feral Pigeon)

41. Stock Dove

42. Woodpigeon

43. Collared Dove

44. Cuckoo

45. Swift

46. Kingfisher

47. Green Woodpecker

48. Great Spotted Woodpecker

49. Magpie

50. Jay

51. Jackdaw

52. Rook

53. Carrion Crow

54. Raven

55. Goldcrest

56. Blue Tit

57. Great Tit

58. Coal Tit

59. Skylark

60. Sand Martin

61. Swallow

62. House Martin

63. Long-tailed Tit

64. Chiffchaff

65. Willow Warbler

66. Blackcap

67. Garden Warbler

68. Lesser Whitethroat

69. Whitethroat

70. Grasshopper Warbler

71. Treecreeper

72. Wren

73. Starling

74. Ring Ouzel

75. Blackbird

76. Fieldfare

77. Song Thrush

78. Redwing

79. Mistle Thrush

80. Spotted Flycatcher

81. Robin

82. Black Redstart

83. Wheatear

84. Dunnock

85. House Sparrow

Yellow Wagtail

86. (Yellow Wagtail (flavissima))

87. Grey Wagtail

Pied/White Wagtail

(White Wagtail (alba))

88. (Pied Wagtail (yarrellii))

89. Tree Pipit

90. Meadow Pipit

91. Chaffinch

92. Brambling

93. Greenfinch

[Domestic Canary]

94. Goldfinch

95. Siskin

96. Linnet

97. Lesser Redpoll

98. Common Crossbill

99. Bullfinch

100. Yellowhammer

101. Reed Bunting

102. Corn Bunting

Black-tailed Godwit

My intention yesterday evening was to go to Tetworth this morning to carry out my WeBS count. I'm rather pleased with my decision at dawn this morning to text my friendly gamekeeper and postpone until tomorrow, on account of the poor weather.

Instead, I stayed closer to home and again visited my closest 'wetland' at Myers Farm. I was kind of expecting something to be there, and my mind was full of Wood Sandpipers and Spotted Redshanks as I made my way there. Predictably, neither was, but a familiar call and a leggy wader on the mud had me adding yet another wader to this surprisingly productive site's list - a juvenile islandica-type Black-tailed Godwit.

In a way, it's a shame the site is so out of the way, but on the other hand, I'm pleased to have it all to myself.

However, I really do think that I should buy myself a smartphone with a reasonably proficient camera.

DOM

Pintail at Myers Farm Reservoir, Potton

''Rubbish little farm reservoir on county border pulls in another good bird shocker.''

It isn't really rubbish, it kind of resembles a mini-GLE, but about the size of a six-a-side football pitch and with lots of exposed mud.

Following a Shoveler here (another site first) on 19 August, this morning at dawn a female Pintail was present - by far my earliest date in the county. I think a lot of stuff gets pushed off the fishing lakes just over the border at Little Heath, Gamlingay. Hence, some mornings, there can be reasonably high numbers of wildfowl and on others, nothing at all.

Tuesday's Greenshank was still present and there are now two Green Sandpipers. Not bad really...

ATB,

DOM

The Waste Land

TS Eliot was obviously not a birder, for it was he who wrote that 'April is the cruellest month...' No it isn't, you melodramatic old fool - March is...I haven't found a thing since the first few days of the month.

Over the last few months, I've been keeping an eye on a local farm reservoir (which is the nearest body of water within easy walking distance). For the first two months of the year, it looked fantastic for waders: lots of exposed mud, shallow pools and emergent, fringing vegetation. Imagine my horror when I discovered this weekend that it had been pumped full of water. But hey, selfishness aside, it was still worth checking. After a pair of Oystercatchers yesterday (a site first for me), I returned this evening, in sparkling light and hoping for Ringed Plover, Redshank or perhaps something more fanciful like a Curlew or Avocet.

I gave a visceral laugh out loud when the first birds (only birds) on the entire reservoir were a pair of Mandarin. I admit that they looked fantastic in the light, but they were positively not what I was expecting. Both flew off in the direction of Gamlingay Heath. I know there are a couple of private lakes over there, but have no idea what is 'kept' on them.

Still, Mandarin counts as one, just the same as a Lesser Scaup would do. Seems wrong to me, but I'll take it.

DOM