Untickable stuff

Done ok in March particularly finding Crossbill in Maulden Woods and Merlin at Sandy Smith NR as well as added a few padders such as Green Sandpiper, Golden and Ringed Plover, Shelduck etc typical for time of year - but also come across a few untickables in one way or another

Black Swan - a pair in Chimney Corner South, same day as a pair reported attending a nest in Woburn so four in the county that day at least.

Black-winged Stilt showing still at Meadow Lane on Sunday 16th March - how are any of us going to tick a real one unless we can show no ring

Goose showing signs of cross between blue and white phases of Snow Goose but guessing from bill shape and the company it is keeping has some Barnacle as much else

A boost from Broom

Self found ticks should prove easy enough over the next few weeks as the new migrants come in. I got my first with a Wheatear at Broom while searching for a certain teal sp. The key to the contest is however to get the scarcities. One example is Peregrine that is around most of the time but difficult to count as a self found for the year. Sightings are irregular away from the known locations such as Stewartby chimneys so I was delighted to score with a bird that came down to drink on the pools at Gypsy Lane East on Saturday morning. I also got a bonus this weekend as this was my first visit to gravel pit habitat since the first few days of the year so I was able to add SFYTs in the shape of Redshank, Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover to give my total an extra boost.

Later in the day, a Green Sandpiper was discovered on the man-made plastic-lined pools between Toddington Services and the railway giving me a total of seven different wader species for the day. Still not found Stonechat however which was one of the key targets of my late afternoon wanderings in the Sundon area.

Have not had a chance to add anything else yet this week but the weekend will soon be upon us again thankfully, then the longer lighter evenings.

Not counting this duck from Wardown Park, Luton. Not only is it an escape but it is some sort of hybrid in which I am finding it difficult to be confident in naming species that may be included in its ancestry. If I knew the answer this would make a good competition photo but I reckon a certain amount of Ruddy Shelduck may be in there somewhere…

Andy Grimsey